


...And then there was war.

by lsem



Category: American Gods (TV), American Gods - Neil Gaiman
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-08
Updated: 2020-02-17
Packaged: 2020-02-28 07:41:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 25,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18752011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lsem/pseuds/lsem
Summary: Regardless of who wins Anansi knows he and his people will not be included in the spoils of that war, not the way he wanted to be anyway. Instead he cooks up his own ideas, he has sat back on his hands for far too long. It is time to remind them that just because they are few doesn't mean they are lost or will lose.





	1. Peace is a shitty idea.

**Author's Note:**

> Anansi's war is a very interesting aspect of Season 2 for me. This is gonna be an AU from the end of Season 2 and onward. I think Anansi's war is very interesting in that Anansi is such a big God and character that it seems unlikely he would have just sat back and let everything play out without getting his own piece of the pie, or at the very least, just to cause some confusion.
> 
> I'll be mixing some aspects of the book and show, and then there are going to be OC's and characters from certain folktales that weren't mentioned. Hopefully you enjoy. There will be SPOILERS if you haven't read the book or caught up on Season 2.

Anansi doesn't want war, he doesn't want bloodshed, lines drawn in the sand and the hard decisions to be made. But not one really gave a shit about what Anansi wanted, the moment blood was spilled and bodies hit the floor things took a turn for the worst. Even with Wednesday sitting in his shop, with his son far too unaware of everything happening around him, unaware that he was the turning point of some half baked plot in Wednesday's head from decades ago. The light shines in Baldur, he is good but he can only be great when the film is wiped from his mind and he can step fully into who he is.

For now he won't be Baldur, his light won't amplify.

He'll continue to be Shadow, a shadow of his true gift.

Regardless of if the boy ever steps up or just gets cut down in the process, the imminent threat is still there. He stood near the window looking down at the streets below, humans scattered to and fro like ants. His worshipers won't survive this war, they're barely surviving now. Despite whatever agreement from eons ago they had he would not allow his people to be forfeit in whatever Wednesday has cooked up.

As Vulcan burned, the child-gods were growing stronger each second, and Vulcan would return on a war path, every bullet a blessing, every death is devotion. Each day another one of Anansi's worshiper disappears, another one is killed, another one is sold, he has been dealing with this since he arrived on these bloody shores. His people didn't have a for-sure carved out spot in this country and it was a shame. They got by on 'good enough' but even that wasn't enough anymore, not in a country that felt they deserved as little as possible. Anansi's mind rumbled like thunder, it had been doing that quite often these days. He knew when his mind stopped rumbling, when ideas stopped washing over and past one another that he'd have a fully formed idea there, one that had been taking root for the past five hundred years or so.

_War._

His people are no strangers to hardship, to strife, to pain, they have lost and lost and _lost_ so damned much, even themselves and their memories of home. He is tired of losing, he is tired of sitting back like a God. He is not a God in the sense he can tolerate _this_ and he has been sitting back from massacre after massacre, city after city burning, body after body being snatched from the shores of home and then from the shores of the living. America is a Goddess getting fat off the brown bodies it burns as effigies, that she hangs as lessons to those that dare place one toe out of line, and tortures in a system never built for them. All of this is a testament to America's hatred and cruelty. His people are no strangers to hardship, but there is one thing they don't have enough of anymore.

_Hope._

Maybe he can be that in a completely different way. 

Even for Baldur who has seemed to have lost his light and his way, because if his own Daddy can't be bothered to enlighten the child then that is when Anansi had to step in. He has carried these burdens for far too long, and now he's ready to do something about them.

Sometimes all it takes is a small miracle and then his mind stops and he focuses on creating a game plan. First he needs a Queen, he cannot have a war without a Queen, and there is only one Queen strong enough and powerful enough for this war he's going to take on. He's not sure what he could do to win her over to his side, he'll think of something, probably. He lifted his hat up from the table and placed it on his head before grabbing his coat and heading towards the door. If he was going to sew war, if he was going to instill hope and start a revolution he was going to need his best salesman, his Queen.

As he travels his mind rolls like thunder as he thought about her.

_Love._


	2. A King needs a Queen.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anansi needs a Queen, but what does the Queen need from Anansi?

Anansi knows the feeling all too well, Ibis will toe the line until there's no more rope but the Queen? She can be won over. He has known her for quite some time, it has been forever since he has thought about his time as Boy-God in a land he can never return to. He knew that there was nothing left for him there, but she is a living memory of the glory he was allowed to look upon. The Goddesses are gone, their likenesses destroyed, but even now with the hardships that America puts on her she doesn't forget. She adapts but she remembers, taking some conveniences but never forgetting about the crown she wields.

He doesn't forget either.

She kissed him, the Queen doesn't kiss everyone and he feels something blooming inside of him when she does. He can taste it, fruits from the homeland, the sweet air and the closer he gets to her the more he wants to remember, the more he allows her to tickle the edges of his mind where he has locked those thoughts away. For that time she allowed him to dote on her; kiss her hand, follow her around, carry her around the funeral home in his arms because the ground wasn't fit to touch her. He knew she enjoyed it, she enjoyed the worship and devotion he bestowed upon her. When Ibis is out of earshot he tells her what he wants to do to her, for her and with her, with her blessing of course.

The Queen eats it up.

Later that night when he's in her room and she's asleep he finds a tiny card, her fortune, and smirks. It seemed she and Baldur had a more intertwined fate than many would believe.

"Going through my things? Why am I not surprised?" She questioned and reached for the fortune but he pulled it back.

"What do you plan to do with Baldur?" He asked.

"So all those words you whispered in my ear were sweet nothings? You don't trust me?"

"Oh, I trust you, if I didn't we wouldn't be here." He said and twirled the card in his hand before a tiny spider dropped down from the ceiling and carried it away. "My Queen."

"What do you expect to gain from this?"

"Baldur doesn't know what the hell he's getting into, and with this war on the brink we know Wednesday's going to disappear, it's just a matter of when. If anything happens to any of us, he's not going to give a shit." Anansi said, "And I need you."

"While your words are pretty, what are you up to?" Bilquis asked while sitting up in bed.

"I'm trying to save us all."

"Some of us can't be saved."

"I know that, but what type of God would I be if I didn't try?" He asked, and for a moment she looks touched by his words. But as quickly as he thinks he's seen the mask of his Queen slip it's gone and her eyes dance with desire again. 

"The longer Shadow stays here the longer he's in danger. This is hallowed land, Anansi. Thoth is not the old friend that we left behind."

"What exactly are you saying?" He questioned with a growing smirk, he knew exactly what she wanted him to do. But it would require a pact on both their ends, and despite all the passion they have just shown one another he knew that he was the last person she wanted to bind herself to. She needed him like he needed his next breath, he'd never utter it to another soul, he had far too much respect for her.

"You've seen my fortune, you know he must live for me to live."

"Are you asking me to try to save you, my Queen?" He said and she moved closer to him, he sat at the edge of the bed, his pants unbuttoned and a simple t-shirt on, he was so different from the God he showed the world. Only she saw him like this, she crawled closer, the blankets dropping as she knelt on the bed fully nude. She is a sight to behold.

"Save Shadow and you save me." She said.

"God Bless the Queen." He said. "But you don't need me, you could save him yourself."

"Maybe I want to be your Queen."

"I shall remember this day even more fondly than I would have before." He said and then she utters those next few special words. 

"...And if you save me, you get your war with America." She said, and _that_ is music to his ears. He never had any plans on leaving Shadow behind, but now he could gladly pull this boy into the fold since it was apparent Shadow had no plans on opening his eyes and seeing everything happening around him.

"We have a pact?" He questioned.

'We do." She said, "Now come back to bed, do you really think I was done with you?"

"Well, who am I to deny my Queen?" He said and undressed before crawling into bed with her, as they kiss and worship one another he knows he's one step closer to an inevitable war. But with his Queen at his side, he can't lose. America is growing to be an old and useless Queen, one who tries to assert her importance, he knows it's only a matter of time before she allies with the child-Gods, but he won't give her that chance. Much later when they're both spent she rests her head on his chest and speaks.

"Tell me something."

"Anything." He said, and he means it. She could ask him the meaning of life or where the source of gold is but she doesn't. 

"Who do you plan on bringing to this war?"

"Oh, I got a crew, you wouldn't believe who I had in mind." He said, and so he began to tell her, there's nothing he can hide from his Queen nor does he desire to. She mentions a few people he hadn't considered, he knows she'll bring in a few people to the table he can't even dream of swaying. So it is there, after making Love and receiving the blessing from the Queen of Queens, that Anansi decides to officially wage war. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like the idea of all their plans being wrapped up around one person. Again, Shadow is one of the most important people in the room and he doesn't even know it.


	3. John Henry and his Hammer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And in the end he doesn't find John Henry near any trains or train tracks. He has an entirely different station in life now, but would his hammer swing for Anansi's cause?

"Once upon a fucking time there was a man named John." Anansi said as he entered the library. The children giggled at his curse words and huddled around here, the Librarian looked up and frowned. He slipped his hat off his head and took a seat on the bean bag. The reading corner was colorfully decorated with brightly colored pictures of happy children reading happy books, the kids that visited this library were still too jaded to see the injustice in the world. They could still find solace in stories and books, and that made Anansi a very happy God. "See John was a slave, and then when slavery was over he had to find a job, so he figured he'd drive steel until one day it killed him. One fucking day a statesman came to the railroad tracks. See, back before cars and buses people took trains all over this country, and they needed people to drive the steel into the train tracks."

"Oh, is that so?" The Librarian said, he was a hulking giant, squeezing into too tight shirts and khakis, and he favored a black and silver pen that he clicked every now and again. He was the type of man that spent his entire life smiling so the rest of the world believed he wasn't a threat, but Anansi knew better. Anansi knew who that man and what that silver and black pen could do. The children looked up to the librarian but then back to Anansi quickly, they hung onto his very word and their eyes light up. There is devotion in their stares, they have never seen anyone quite like him before, and they're right to be in awe.

_And snatched._

Just like that another generation is putty in his capable hands.  Better his than someone else, right?

"Oh, yes, they gave him a big ol' shiny silver hammer, and John Henry and his hammer did damage. But the statesman wanted to replace them all with a machine, but John wouldn't have it, they needed to drill through a mountain and the statesman just knew his machine could beat them all. John Henry bet against the machine and won, but not without price."

"What happened?" One of the children asked, a small brown skinned girl with long braids. Her brown eyes twinkled as she listened to the story.

"They say he died, and all the workers celebrated him, he saved them from having to find other jobs in different cities far away from their families and they could keep supporting their families back home." Anansi said and heard all the children sigh and 'aww', he held up his hand to stop them, they are so caught up in him and his story that they stop, every breath in the room is held. "But I heard a different story. See good ol' John Henry was swinging his hammer so fast he broke through time. Time is a very thin and frail thing, and so when he didn't come back from the mountain they assumed the worst, but John Henry became a folktale and a God."

"So he could still be around?" A small brown boy asked.

"I know for a fact that he is." Anansi said.

"Don't cuss around the kids, Nancy." John said once Anansi told the children a few more stories, they scampered off to different sections of the library, laying about the carpets and reading books. Anansi stood near the front desk where John was sitting, he fidgeted at the desk, moving from monitor to desk, to book and then circling back a few times.

"What? I'm sure they've heard way worst shit at home."

"Doesn't mean you need to _inspire_ bad habits."

"John, how's your hammer hanging these days?" Anansi said after waving off his worries. The kids saw worse shit on the internet and in their own homes than Anansi could even begin to conjure up.

"No, Anansi." John said and stood up, he pushed a cart full of books towards the back of the library. "I am not fighting in this war."

"Why the hell not?" He asked freely.

"I do not care about the new Gods."

"This isn't about the new Gods." Anansi said and John stopped his cart and turned around slowly. He was interested. Good. Anansi could sell himself so much better when they were actually interested. "I don't give a shit about Wednesday or his war. You see these kids coming in here day in and day out, they need something to believe in."

"And that's where you come in, I suppose?" John said and folded his arms across his chest.

"We." Anansi said and walked around John and began to push the cart, "You cracked through time, swinging so fast and strong that you became a God yourself. Skin too thick to be penetrated, your hammer is time and death, and you should be helping our fucking people. But instead you hide away behind books, hell I could respect it if half the shit in this library was even true."

"When I was born reading was illegal, I could be whipped to death for such a thing. The very act of reading, of being knowledgeable without anyone stopping me is...revolutionary."

"I was there, John." Anansi voice said dropping a few octaves. He pushed the cart into the aisle before walking back over to John, he turned to him with a bitter smile on his face "I was there when Bethelda and Mark held you, when they sold your Daddy down the river and your mother up north. I was there by the fireside during the civil war, I was there when you got that fucking hammer. I watched and waited until you sat at the table with the rest of us after receiving our blessings."

"I remember." John said softly. Anansi is always there, even if just hidden in a corner. He is always watching, ever observant. Anansi has been a bigger constant in his life than he'd care to admit. If not for him he might have bit the bullet long ago. He is hope when John was too bitter to even accept it, even back then he simply told him that he had big plans for him. Today is that day. Despite what John wants to feel hope blooms up inside of him. 

"And I greeted you on the other side of time, you were beautiful, John." Anansi said and cupped his face in his hands and pressed his forehead against John's. "And now your people need you, not just for the books and the stories, and you know I love a good story. They need your hammer to swing. They need a revolution of another name because this shit here? Brown kids in a country that would rather see them dead or in jail don't always become Gods, they become sacrifices...to America."

"So what is it this time?" John asked, Anansi stepped back and snickered. It was so beautiful watching a plan come together.

"Can I count on your hammer?"  
  
"Do you have a Queen?"

"Is a pig's ass pork? Of course I have a Queen ,John!" Anansi exclaimed, and a few of the people looked at him before focusing back on their tasks.

"I missed the call to Cairo." John said sadly, "Is Thoth in?"

"He's interested. Worry not about the Children of the Nile, when I call just make sure you come, hm?" Anansi said and patted the side of his face. "It's great seeing you again, Johnny."

"Who else is coming?" John asked.

"I'm actually off to see a few of your cousins." He said while heading towards the exit, he placed his hat back on his head while sauntering away.

"I keep telling you Anansi, we all ain't related."

"And I keep telling you, motherfucker, yes we are." Anansi said and spun around and started walking backwards while talking, "We are all in this together, right?"

"Until the end, brother."

"Until the end."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't remember if John Henry is in the book but if there was war I'm sure they'd want him on their side. Cznerobog's hammer swings for Wednesday, but would John's swing for Anansi? I'd like to think Anansi has a good rapport with most of the African God community, but he's also a trickster so there's a few who he's fucked with because he got bored.


	4. Take back the sky.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anansi goes to see an old friend, one of the winged ones. The winged ones are beings who were born closer to the sky than land. He wants to take back the sky, will she agree?

"Now that's some good fucking coffee." Anansi said as the door opened, Briana snatched the keys out the door as her eyes bulged. Oh, hell no, she wasn't doing this with him again. She was unsure how long he had been here, but she wanted no part of it. Maybe if she pretended he wasn't there then he'd go away, but she knew better at this point. Still she shuffled around her humble little shop, opening the curtains, straightening tables and pulling down the chairs. "C'mon, you're not sore about Georgia, are you?"

"Shifter, what do you want?" Briana asked sharply.

"Just that pretty mouth of yours."

"Word is it you've got another Queen." Briana said, when Gods like Anansi got to moving and shaking word traveled like lightening through their community. She wasn't quite a God but definitely wasn't human either, still she got nothing out of selling her people out. The 'new' Gods had come around, strutting like a peacock, offering her a piece of the pie, offering her the sky as if she and her people didn't own it already. She turned down that vape puffing, embryonic sack of shit. Gods rose and fell at a rapid pace, even during her short life she had seen it. These 'new' Gods would fall and then rise again, as was the way of things. 

"And you've been taking up with John Henry again, I've never been quite sure in just what direction his hammer swings." Anansi said and smirked, he was unlike them, he was born into Godhood. He didn't stumble into it or ascend based on prayers and stories. He picked from a series of lovers, Gods and humans, men and women, and everyone in between. Even at one point she fancied him, but she learned it was best not to fall for tricksters. Maybe Anansi met his match in his new Queen, Love was a con artist all in it's own right.

"What. Do. You. Want. Anansi?" She asked and continued to move about the shop, she put on the coffee machines, preheated the ovens and slid the drawer into the cash register.

"Now _that_ is the question you should be asking. Why would I just pop up on your doorstep?"

"You can't answer a question with a question, Anansi."

"How's the family?" He asked.

"You're not answering the question, Anansi." She said and turned slowly to find him right there. He pressed her back against the counter and stared down at her. She could turn him away but when he's looking so contemplative and miserable she can't find it in her heart to do so, she still thinks she has a heart, how human. Instead of shunning him she reached up and stroked the side of his face, America has been unkind to both of them, so she tried to move past the bitterness growing inside of her at something that happened years ago. He leaned into her touch and pressed a soft kiss to the palm of her hand.

"War is coming."

"So?" She asked, hadn't they been under assault since they got here? They were all supposed to leave together that day but she was left behind, still she knew the words and rose high in the sky every night. 

"So, your people need you." He said and lifted her up onto the counter and stood between her legs.

"You get to run around with this white man and his hot headed friends and expect all of us to put our necks in a noose for them. Well, I say no." Briana said and plucked the hat off the top of his head and put it on her head. "What do me and my people get out of this?"

"I _am_ your people, little bird."

"That's not the right answer." She said, and she watched intrigue and anger pass over his face, it is all masked under the guise of humor. But she has known him for quite a while now, not well enough to know him as much as their Queen, but good enough to read him most days. The colorful suits tell a story of his past, his smile hides his anger, and even now with him between her legs begging for access to her people, to her song, she is all too unaware she's not in control.

Anansi will have his war.

Knees will bend.

If she plays her cards right she might not have to run an old coffee shop in the bad end of town anymore. She might get to be who she's always been, she might not have to walk with this burden, she and her people might get to fly, to feel the wind on their skin again and not just under the cover of night. This is a different proposal than some hyped up kid dancing into her shop telling her how things are going to be, Anansi gives them the illusion of choice and what more can she ask for at this point? 

"Don't you want to fly again?"

"I fly often, Anansi." She said, it's true, she does fly often. At night taking off from rooftops she says the words and takes off into the night, she feels closer to the shores of home despite being grounded here. If she leaves who will sing the song for them? If she disappears they will never know the feeling of flight, perhaps if she says yes to him and his war she can show them all how to fly. 

"No, I mean really fly. Don't you want our people to know who they are, that the power is still right there," He said and placed his hand over her heart. He could kill her now, she's seen him do it, she's seen what happens when people underestimate a trickster, a god of stories, a God of Gods. Instead he moves his hands up over her chest, cradling her neck in his hands before tilting her head back, so she can see him, really see him. Despite her ability to soar through the sky like a bird, she is closer to being human than he is. Even seeing him like this, an eight eyed spider God there is not fear, only power. Then his mask slips back into place as if nothing has changed at all. 

"All they have to do is reach out and grab it. I remember a time from even before your time, when the winged ones took the sky from man, stealing the sight of the earth from the sun. In return they killed our people, most of them, and had it not been for one of the few no one would remember the call. We are few, but we are not lost, little bird. Take back the sky for me, hm?" He asked before she re-positioned herself, placing her hand on his shoulders and looking at him. "Give our people something to believe in because regardless of who wins Wednesday's war, we are still in trouble."

"You make an interesting argument, Anansi." She said, she has seen it too. Brown bodies piling up, a dishonest sacrifice to America, ever since they arrived on the shores of this land. There were some who were saved, but many who were not. Some have forgotten who they are, the power they all wield. If they are supposed the Gods or magical beings from their stories, it is their job to protect them whether they want to do it or not. Briana plucked the hat off her head and placed it back on his. "If you have your Queen, then you have our wings during this war."

"Can I see them one last time before I go?" He asked and placed one of his hands on her shoulders and then moved them down over her shoulder blades. 

"It's not a party trick, Anansi. Get the hell out of here before I change my mind." She said and he gave her a soft peck on the cheek before rushing out the door. There were times where Anansi could be honorable and she hoped that these were one of those times.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Winged people are stories I grew up hearing from my family but if you've read anything by Virginia Hamilton then you've heard stories too. Sometimes they have actual wings and other times they don't but simply float and fly away. Briana is an OC of mine.


	5. A word, please?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The baron is expecting Anansi, has his answer ready for him and has a few worries before fully investing in this war.

"I'm in." Baron said before Anansi could even spin out of his form, he knew the old bastard did it just to get under his skin. He traveled all this way, with a dazzling story to call him to power and then he didn't even let him get it out. Anansi chuckled while leaning against the bed post.

"Where's Brigit?"

"Somewhere around here." He said and waved his hand while laying in bed. Like all things, his personal room was extravagant, large bed, silk linens, red and white velvet walls with paintings that hung from their pasts. Anansi took a seat on the edge of the bed and popped his head off the top of his head.

"Don't even want to hear why?"

"I know you, Anansi." He said, "Trickster. You wouldn't be asking for help if you didn't need it and I've seen your old Queen, running around here, working her magic, getting all my people killed. If I'm being fair, you owe us this war."

"Pardon me, how do I owe you this war?"

"You didn't keep your Queen in check."

"Have you ever been able to do such a thing?" Anansi asked.

"Don't have to, she knows her place, knows what we do and don't do." Baron said, "But now America has grown fat and strong, off the backs of our children, Anansi. You should have killed her when you had the chance, and you didn't, trickster. Do you somehow benefit from what she does?"

"I'm offended you'd even ask."

"I want to know just who I get into bed with." He said and patted the spot beside him, and Anansi crawled into bed beside him with his hat resting on his chest. "After all, your buddies from the Nile have been up to something amazing."

"I've spoken to them." Anansi said, he had been as confused and hurt by what they were doing to his people, no, their people. Everything about life used to be sacred, when did things get so fucked up?

"Is that all you do these days? I remember when Anansi was different, have you gone soft, old friend?" He asked. "Death is my domain, but so is life, and those are _my_ people. I do not take kindly to those who leave our gates open, who abuse or rites for selfish reasons. How human of them."

"Some of us have been here too long."

"I would like a word with all of them."

"Ask your Legba."

"Ah, but I asked you. You should appreciate my favors. They still hold weight, hm?" He said and Anansi sat up slowly.

"We're all going to Lakeside." Anansi said, he knew favors still had power and having the Baron in your back pocket was nothing to scoff at. He'd set it up and when the time came he'd call on him.

"You have a new Queen?" Baron asked as Anansi headed towards the window he crept through.

"The best one of all, Love looks favorably upon Anansi."

"Still barking up that tree thousands of years later, eh?" Baron asked.

"Hell, it might work this time."

"We'll see." He said and then Anansi was off, things were going well but word was traveling faster than he'd like. If the others were aware of his arrival then his enemies had to aware as well, but before he ran into them or tried to take them on himself he needed to check in with his Queen and make sure everything was fine. He might be planning his own war but her future and Baldur's were linked, and he needed to keep an eye on Shadow Moon. He wondered when the light inside of him would be reignited?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think the Baron definitely wouldn't appreciate the Egyptian Gods violating rites and rules, leaving gates open in the name of worship and aiding Wednesday. It depends on how old they all are (Do Gods even have an age or do they all just exist and wait for Humans to will them into existence? Is there a purgatory for Gods?) who would pull rank but Samedi is such an interesting God I couldn't imagine him not at least talking to them.


	6. The Road Home.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anansi returns to their hideout near Lakeside, Bilquis is worried for Shadow and the 'God' residing there. Lakeside is bewitched and built upon the bodies of the towns legacies. Can he quiet her worries? Or is it more than Lakeside?

"Something wrong, my Queen?" He asked, he had been here for fifteen minutes. Initially he wanted to sneak up on her, grab control of the conversation before it began, but she stood near the window looked out over the land. His Queen grew in power, but he could see something was bothering her. He came to stand beside her and could see that she was far too deep in thought.

"The land is bewitched."

"All of America is bewitched, my Queen. Blood spilled with evil intent, cries for Gods that fall on deaf ears, evil owns this land." He said and wrapped one of his arms around her shoulders pulling her close and she allows herself to be led and consoled.

"So tell me."

"Tell you what?" He asked.

"What it was like when you first arrived." She said, Gods were not made to be active in the lives of humans. A sacrifice here, devotion there, maybe a story from time to time, perhaps a shrine. But not active, not the way he had to be, and still it wasn't enough, it would never be enough. He couldn't afford to be Anansi the God, he had to be more than a little spider from big stories. "Is it too much to remember?"

"America is an unkind mistress who forgets the cost of what it is to be great." He said, his voice cracked a bit as he spoke. Suffering may not be sacred, but he didn't care about what was or wasn't sacred. He cared about people, because at the end of it all, that was all they had. He couldn't return home, paradise was lost for so many Gods because they hadn't chose to stay up on their big slice of heaven and look away from their suffering. Would he change it? The lives he's saved and changed? Secretly, he loves his worshipers, they are more than sheep to be led. "Picture it. Swamps. Thick wetlands. Large groves of trees. Frigid winters and sweltering summers. Your child is without clothes, without family, without stories. Try as you might you cannot save them all."

"Is that why you do it?" She asked.

"Perhaps I do this because it's right."

"Whatever is happening here is wrong, it is uneven, unbalanced." She said.

"This is the price of adapting, evolving."

"Do not patronize me, Anansi." She snapped.

"You misread me, my Queen, he has been here for quite a while. Adapting. Evolving. The people in this time can stay frozen in time, ignorant to all things that go around them in the real world. What some read as progress, others see it for what it is, their inability to keep up with the times."

"What brings you back to me so soon?" She asked, he could see she was moved by his words but also irritated by them. Now she cared about the innocents? About those sacrificed unwillingly or without their own knowledge? There might just be hope for them yet. “Is all well?”

“As well as can be expected, some are taking the bait better than others, but we don’t need a million Gods for this war.”

“Ogun has agreed to come.”

“That old buzzard.” He said.

“And Oya, a few impundulu I knew well. The others are on the fence."

"Rightfully so."

"If we can take the sea and the sky, we have some leverage. They can't ignore that."

"You have a hammer?"

"John is on board and Samedi is up for the challenge." He said, "What about Bast?"

"She's on the fence."

"And Horus?"

"He's a fair weather bird, he said he'd show up but you know how he is."

"That's hopeful."

"You didn't have to come all this way just for that." She said snd rested her head against his shoulder, "You could have sent a spider to check in."

"But that's so informal." He said.

"What worries you, Anansi?"

"America grows stronger and aware of our plans."

"I was old before she was a thought in the mind of power hungry men. America only floated herself all these years because of the love from her people, and without love what is she? Another child god in over her head."

"My Queen, you couldn't possibly be suggesting…" He said and held her back against his chest.

"A world without love, without devotion isn't one worth being in." She said and furrowed her brows, "An America based completely in hatred is one bound to self destruct."

"I love the way you think." He said, "Don't forget, he is but a child-god as well."

"I'll do my best." She said and turned in his arms and kissed him. "You came to make sure I was fine, how human of you."

"You're my Queen, this is more than name only. You don't have to go through this alone." He said and ran his thumb over her cheek, "How's Shadow?"

"Out with the child god and a friend." She said.

"Has Wednesday shown his face?" Anansi asked.

"Not yet, he is not ready to die yet."

"Everything in due time, I suppose. We just have to keep an accurate time table."

"Be safe out there " She said, "More is wrong than just the child god."

"I will be." He said and gave her one last kiss. For just a moment he doesn’t want to leave, he wants to soothe her worries, he wanted to make sure all was truly well. Then she gives him a playful look before pushing him away, he can't afford to start courting her right now. There's a war to be won, one that is growing in momentum with every passing second. 


	7. A compact.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And in walked America! She has wonderful plans for Tech Boy and this war of hers

Shadow Moon sits at the fulcrum of this war, he is the balancing point and it just depends on which way he'd lean to tip the scales in their favor. But Shadow is situated around Old Gods, ancient relics of a more barbaric time in history, and they don't appear to openly use him, that made them foolish. Columbia sat in the bunker, a cigarette hanging out the corner of her mouth as he sat in front of the monitor. Does he even remember her? Does he remember that they built something out of mutual need? She rubbed at her eyes as she thoughta bout Thor, he had been another catalyst, it seemed Wednesday had a knack for helping create little problmes like that. 

"What do they call you?" Columbia asked.

"Tech boy." He said. "Who are you?"

"America."

"You're kidding, right?" He questioned, his stare is blank, he really doesn't remember her. Hell he probably doesn't remember anything. He's a blank slate, good, it was better to work with Gods that way. She could craft him into a God of use, her latest husband Samuel just took up space, cursed at minorities and played Fortnite. Sure, he had followers and worship abound, but he would be useless in war. America without a God of war was just a really impressive flaccid penis. 

But tech, that was different. Tech could skew opinions, count polls, make people ignore a war that was happening right before their very eyes. Just like that he had use again, America would take the bare bones of this God and raise him into something of worth.

"Not at all, honey." She said and patted the spot beside her. "Can't believe we're at war."

"With Wednesday?"

"Who? Oh. Him." She said and waved him off, "That war was inevitable, the old badger is always busy, always selling someone some bullshit that just ain't true. I mean a different war."

"With who?" He asked.

"Don't worry yourself, hun." She said as he took a seat beside her. "Your people want me on your side."

"Mr. World does." 

"Then I need to show you my side of my own war." She said and stood up and headed towards the door.

"I'm not supposed to leave."

"You're a God, hun, not a puppy." She said, "Leave 'em a note or an astral projection or something, tell 'em you'll be back." Then he was following behind her, sitting across from her in a limousine, he watched everything so closely. He is teleboy, deep down he has to feel that familiar spark and all she has to do is find which one of these corroded wires to light. 

"Have we met before?"

"What makes you say that, hun?"

"You keep looking at me like you know me."

"Everybody knows you." She said and lit another cigarette. 

"No, I mean like... this is different. I feel like you know me and I know you, and I...don't know anything about other Gods. I just have...sparks."

"Sparks? You a god of thunder too?" She asked, it's a cruel joke on both their ends. Donar's eyes flash in her mind and she takes a harsh inhale on her cigarette. It has been far too long since she thought of him. There's no coming back for Donny. 

"No, I just... I think I remember things, I already have certain feelings towards Gods I never met." He said.

"Darling, those Gods held up in that funky old bunker are thinking too small. I have big plans for you, if you let me."

"What type of plans?" He asked. 

"You're more than bandwidth, baby." She said and held out her cigarette to him and he took it hesitantly, holding it up to his lip and inhaled deeply then exhaled the smoke out of his nose. 

"What if I told them what you were planning?" He asked. 

"I could care less, hun." She said, "The war I'm in is bigger than a child being strung up on a tree for an ungrateful fuck like Odin, this war is about me, and who is a bigger God in America....than America?" 

"Mr. World said--"

"Without me his dog don't hunt, suge." She said and snickered, "There can be no Compton crack wars without a Compton, there can't be war for America without... America. I am the milk and honey. Give me your hungry, your tired, your poor and I will fuck their mind until they believe they're anything but that. They may have given those words to Lady Liberty, but her fire ain't lit if I don't want it to be. I sow war. I reap the benefits. I make a way out of nothing. I am America and don't shit happen without me knowing about it....and then came you."

"Me?" He said, he had been hanging onto her every word, he was leaning in at this point. He was interested. That was good, she needed him to be very interested. 

"Yes." She said, "You don't remember anything, do you?"

"No." He said but it sounded more of a question, they'd work out those kinks in his personality later on. She needed him to be sure of himself, not speak with an upward inflection. "You said you're America but what about Uncle Sam?"

"My husband? He ain't nobody's fucking Uncle. Sits on his ass all day yelling about 'the threat abroad'" She said, she used airquotes and rolled her eyes. "He has gotten fat off of my blessings, my worship, and I'm tired of it."

"Tired?"

"Ol' Sammy has outlived his usefulness to America. Yeah every Veteran's day they roll out a poster or two and he struts around thinking about 'the good ol' days' but those days are long gone, hun. He needs to get with the fucking times."

"When you say he outlived his usefulness... you mean you, right?"

"Now you're getting it, hun." She said and smiled from ear to ear.

"And what about if I outlive my usefulness?" He asked.

"See, you and I could work out in the long time. You'll keep me young." She said and smile. 

"And what do I get?" He asked.

"Milk and honey, hun. You get access to every part of America, even the scary parts you ain't know about. You get access to World and that new gal of his over there. And I'll even get you some new fucking clothes, can't believe they let you walk around dressed like that."

"I think I'd like that." He said and looked down at his clothes before looking back up at her, she sees it, she's found that wire, now all she has to do is pull it, and unravel the ugly bits until the man she loved came crawling out of all those wires and bullshit.

"We have a compact?"

"We do." 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really like the "so we have a compact?" line. I like the idea of a braver, bolder and older form, and the idea of Uncle Sam as a modern douchebag. And her still being sent on teleboy who bit the bullet in one way or another. I also which Donar hadn't been killed permanently


	8. Murder of an Old God

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vulcan is sent to put an end to Anansi's war before it starts. But can Vulcan stand against all of them?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are some graphic descriptions but nothing that should keep you awake at night.

From the dust, from the fire and fumes Vulcan rose angrier than ever before. Wednesday sacrificed him after he forged him that blade and that son of his sat there and watched, he shouldn't be angry, but then he wouldn't be Vulcan if he didn't get angry.

Angry was good.

Angry got shit done.

Before he could fly off the handle, before he could forge a warpath directly to Wednesday's front fucking door, World was there to stop him, he needed him for something else entirely. A different war would be brought to their doorstep if they didn't handle it in advance, Vulcan fucking hated shifters but he'd deal with Anansi if that meant dealing with Wednesday and that son of his.

He came upon the location, slamming the door shut to his car as he pulled out his gun and headed towards the door. He can feel it, powerful magic is at work, it washes over him in thick waves. The sky is cloudy, thunder rumbles in the distance and it seems that this entire area is vacant. He sure in the hell hopes World didn't bring him back just to fuck him over again. Vulcan's anger blinds him to the sacred spot of this land, when he reaches the front door he can see it has been blessed twice over. 

"We could try using our words." Anansi said and Vulcan couldn't see him but could hear him clear as day. Fucking shifters, always everywhere and nowhere all at once. 

 

"Shifter, come out here and die like a God!"

 

"Why should I?" He asked and snickered directly in his ear, he turned quickly and let out a few wild shots but there was no one there. 

"You and your kind have been stirring up enough trouble." He said and felt the ground singe just beside him. He hears them before he sees them, it has been a long fucking time since he has seen thunder birds. Their skin is dark brown, their eyes stark white, they wear clothes like a man, or can appear to be a bird to some, but have steel wings said to have been carved by the Gods themselves. The way they soared through the sky would have been beautiful if it wasn't an omen for his downfall, lightening struck all around him and he let out wild shots hoping to hit one of them. "Come out here and die, Anansi!" 

"Not today, old friend." He said and Vulcan hears the singing of John Henry's hammer, it whistles and hums as he swings it with ease. Vulcan doesn't fear anything but that is a hammer made of both death and time, every God should fear it and anyone who wields it. Before he can choose to stand his ground or flee, John is upon him with his sledgehammer, it sends him flying through time, straight to his next few places of death.

A garden.

A fire pit.

The roots of a great tree wrapped around his throat, tugging and pulling until it snaps. He can hear the chant. Fuck, if only he could place the language of the people.

 He straddles life and death in an odd place, pinned to the ground and standing on the shores of time all at once. He doesn't know what war Anansi hopes to sow but knows that if he throws his people in with Wednesday then Mr. World might be in trouble. John Henry stood over him, his hammer bloody as Anansi knelt down to stare down at the hole John sent straight through Vulcan. Sometimes the old ways are best. "Perhaps third time is the charm for you, old friend?"

"Perhaps." Vulcan choked out as the group of thunderbirds landed near him. He knows this part well. Gods are not human. They don't have mercy. 

"I dedicate the death of this old one to my Queen." Anansi said, and in the distance he can see the Queen of Sheba walking towards them. She is different but stronger, holds her head higher and stood beside Anansi with pride. He is not sure what this war will bring or how it will end, but he knows that World is in trouble if they stand beside Shadow Moon. These Gods, truly old Gods, will hang around like an omen and chop down anyone who gets in their way. 

Good.

At least he won't be alone in his early retirement.

"It is acceptable." She said and then turned away from him, the human forms of the thunderbirds transformed into bird eyes and beaks and peck, and peck, until there is nothing left of him. Before they take his eyes he can make something out, in the distance he can see him, a white bird soaring through the sky, and if birds could smile, it was probably grinning from ear to fucking ear. 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since Vulcan has returned in one way or another to the show I thought it would be interesting to see if he stood up to them. I wonder what an actual war on the battlefield with everyone would look like


	9. A brief meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nancy hosts a meeting at the meeting at the Lodge.

"My King." Samedi said as he entered the lodge. The lodge was a large two roomed structure, and in the center of the main room lay a grated fire pit hot with freshly lit coals. Around the firepit lay low tables, chairs and cushions, and upon the tables there were golden chalices. Samedi did a low mocking bow before Anansi helped him up and pulled him into a tight hug. Anansi stepped back and cradled his face in his hand.

"You look well." Anansi said. 

"I am as well as could be expected." He said and then walked deeper into the lodge. He looked around, inspecting the room closely. "Seems I missed the party."

"By the skin of Vulcan's teeth." Anansi said and tossed a skull over his shoulder and Samedi caught it. "I figured you'd like a party favor."

"Only Thunderbirds could peck something this clean. I appreciate this, Anansi." Samedi said while walking towards the center of the lodge, he took a seat in the old rocking chair on the outskirts of the pit. "And since you dug up their eggs and ate their children a few millenia ago, I'm taking it that they didn't come on your behalf."

"Having a very old Queen has its perks."

"Ah, and so the spider fell in love with a Tiger by another name." Samedi said.

"As if she's anything like Tiger." He said, Tiger was proud and vein and Anansi enjoyed knocking him down a few pegs. His Queen wore arrogance as well as she wore humility and knew how to wield both perfectly. 

"Tiger adapted. Tiger became less hot headed. Tiger became a new God... he owns gyms now. He has a box of cereal. Children love Tiger." Samedi said. 

"I'm not seeing the correlation."He said, he knew Samedi liked to goad people into reacting, Anansi liked doing the same thing but he wouldn't fall for that so easily.

"Your Queen walks the tightrope of one side against the other, never quite leaning one way or another." Samedi said, "Who's to say that in another three thousand years we won't be at war with her? Just like Columbia?"

"Your hypothetical is adorable." Anansi said and poured a golden drink into the chalices near the fire pit. He wouldn't be so easily baited by Samedi. "Columbia was young and foolish, hot headed and scared of being forgotten. Bilquis is none of those things."

"So you trust her?"

"With all of our lives." Anansi said and handed him one of the chalices from the table

"Then you have us." Samedi said, there was a sharp knock at the door and Anansi answered it. Briana stood there with a group of ten or more.

"I was expecting more." Anansi said. 

"These are just a few of the district leaders." Briana said.

"So you are actually organized." Anansi said and she pushed past him, smacking her shoulder against his as she made her way into the Lodge. Her group said their hellos, shaking his hand, giving him kisses on the face before sitting near the table. There was a heavy pounding at the door and he opened it to find John Henry right there, clicking his pen, watching as it turned from hammer and then back to pen with ease. "Glad you found place easily."

"Yeah, I had to call off, better make this worth our while."

"If one us eats, we make sure there is enough for the rest at the table." Anansi said and allowed him in.

"Where is your Queen?" John asked.

"At work." He said, "If she just sat around this motherfucker looking pretty and making eyes at your motherfuckers she wouldn't be worth all the trouble, now would she?"

"That's the Anansi I remember!" Baron called out and sipped from his chalice. Anansi looked down and felt something at his feet. It was a brown eyed cat. It leapt from its form and Bast stood before him. This war was turning in his favor more and more. 

"Bast." He said and took her hand and kissed the back of it. "I am surprised to see you."

"I like Shadow, and I think I like him alive." She said. 

"Well that makes two of us." He said and then turned towards the rest of the group "I'm glad you all could be bothered to gather here today," Anansi said as everyone sat around the firepit, he lifted his chalice up and took a long gulp. "I'd like to get started, but first a story."

"C'mon Nancy--" John started. 

"Let him tell his story." Baron said and Anansi took another gulp of the drink but spit it into the fire and watched blue and red flames flew up, dancing around them and melting their human appearances. John appears as a young man with tons of scars and cuts and bruises all over his body, with a rusted old hammer that glittered with the dust from time. Briana's wings are black and brown and she sits with a long silk black gown, her lieutenants wear similar garb, and Samedi's skeletal appearance is unnerving, he walks the line of living and dead perfectly. Then Anansi appears as a six foot tall spider, he is the fear and fanciful parts of human minds, but so much more, and it shines through all of his eyes. "It's a good one, I've been assured."

"Thank you, Saturday." He said, and so he started with a story so different than they're used to hearing. Once upon a time a God sought to create a child. That child would bear their burden. It is a tale as old as time. Gods rarely think about human lives for they are too fleeting to actually measure in worth, but this story is different. This story is about a child of light destined for the darkness of death. It is about Shadow Moon and America, and how to save him from a room with no windows and doors. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It feels like forever since I updated, so if you're reading this then thank you for sticking around.


	10. An important piece on the board

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bilquis and Shadow talk about Lakeside amongst other things.

When Shadow Moon arrived she was already there, standing near the window looking out at the lake. He's not sure how she got here and he's learned not to question that, maybe he should ask her something else? His lips still burn from her kiss in Cairo, he sat the take out down on the table and she turned slowly from the window and walked over to him. Each step was purposeful depsite her heated gaze, he's not sure what she wants from him, just that she might be one of the first Gods to not want him dead.

"So...you're a Queen?" Shadow questioned.

"I am." She said, he remembered sitting in an old tailor shop while Anansi waxed poetic about a Queen who lost everything but found a way to gain it back. He wondered if this was her, there was devotion in his storytelling and he wondered if the old man was always that poetic when he told stories. 

"So what does that make me?"

"A very important piece on the board."

"Is that all I am?"

"You misunderstand, Shadow." She said and took a seat across from him. "You have the choice to be what you want, the burden of truth comes with choices. The freedom to choose, to be what you want is an important one, but an incredibly human endeavour."

"How so?"

"We exist as long as you remember." Bilquis said. "Humans don't require belief to exist, you can continue on without a care in the world."

"You sound jealous." Shadow said while cracking open the container on the takeout. 

"You still misunderstand me." She said and took the food he offered her, "It isn't hard to make humans believe, just tedious when our life cycles aren't the same. Your clock is a lot shorter than mine."

"How old are you?""

"Wouldn't you like to know?" She said playfully.

"Then how old is Mr. Nancy?" He asked.

"I wasn't expecting that one." She said, and he swore he saw a touch of irritation in her face but as soon as he thought he saw it, it was gone.

"And what's his deal, anyway?"

"His deal?" She questioned. 

"He's got a chip on his shoulder when it comes to me."

"Not just you." She said and ate some of the food, "I knew him when he was young, fun and hopeful, before we needed humans to believe in us. This world made him crueler."

"And he takes it out on me?"

"He cares." She said and for the first time her speech doesn't feel rehearsed, he's the last person that Shadow expected her to defend. Someone as Frank and raunchy wouldn't seem to be the one that a Queen would align herself with. "If he didn't he wouldn't give you a hard time. He just wants you to understand that we're at war."

"With Mr. World?"

"No, this is much bigger than World." She said and reached across the table and stroked the side of his face and he leaned into her touch, Laura is a thought shoved to the back of his mind. This isn't cheating, is it? It doesn't feel wrong, doesn't feel like a dream either. She's kind and caring and so unlike everyone else. "One day there won't be any humans, just Gods, animals and the land, the way it once was. Those who are left will either fight for it or compromise."

"Why would they compromise?"

"You're more observant than they believe." Bilquis said and slid her hand back into her lap. He looked from her face down to her shoulder where a spider was walking up her shoulder and she seemed unbothered he reached across the table and she pulled back.

"No... I was just... there's a bug--"

"Oh, that." She said, "Anansi just sent word."

"About?"

"The war." She said and whispered something to the Spider before it scampered off. "So, you have me to yourself, what should we do with the time?"

"Tell me more about this war."

"With World?" She questioned.

"No the other one." He said and a beautiful smile spread across her face, World would have his war and so would Mr. Wednesday, he wasn't sure what they wanted but Bilquis had been one of the first Gods to truly be honest with him in a caring way. She didn't berate him. She didn't threaten to break his head open. She kissed him. She sat and ate with him. The least he could do was hear about her war, right? 

"We can talk about that later when you've rested." She said, "Do you know anything about Lakeside?"

"Not much." Shadow said and shrugged. "Hey, this isn't a date, is it?"

"I don't talk about my other men on dates." She said and Shadow nodded his head, that was fair. Then her words came crashing down on him and the implications. Is that why she seemed so protective of Mr. Nancy? Just how long had they known one another?

"Wait...you and Nancy...know each other?"

"Biblically. Yes."

 


	11. On neutral ground

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anansi and Columbia finally talk after years of silence, can they put an end to this ugliness or will they both move on to the next phases of war?

"Anansi it's good to see you ." Columbia said and then offered him a seat across from her. He got word that she wanted to see him, he supposed that if Vulcan had put up more of a fight she might not have invited him here. It was the last call of the night in the upscale restaurant. White tables. White Walls. Small portions. High prices. It was every con America had ever run, offering you the smallest amount of bullshit for the highest price. 

"You look well, Columbia." He said and placed the napkin across his lap 

"I hear you have a new Queen."

"Yes, we go way back." He said as a waiter came to pour wine for them. "She's a good friend.

"Just a friend?"

"You sound jealous."

"She's cozied up to that Moon boy." Columbia said and slid pictures across the table to him. Images of Bilquis about with Shadow, things he already knew about.

"I'd be wary keeping such a close eye on my Queen. She wouldn't appreciate being spied on."

"That old washed up Queen is supposed to scare me?" She questioned while lighting a cigarette. 

"If you weren't scared we wouldn't be here." Anansi said, "Tell me something, what happened when you left Chicago?'

"I went West, my late husband and I populated West. Holly, our little girl, made it big. Bringing stars down from the sky and to the big screen."

"And you know what happened to Donar while you were 'populating' the West?" He questioned.

"That wasn't my fault." She said and took a long, harsh drag on her cigarette. She could barely meet his eyes.

"Donny loved you, and when he needed you, where the hell were you?" Anansi asked.

"Wednesday said-"

"You made a hell of a life for yourself,here became the Queen of an entire country but you're a goddamn fool if you believe a word that flies from Wednesday's lips." Anansi said. 

"What does that have to do with this war?"

"What war?" Anansi asked playfully. 

"Your ilk killed Vulcan, twice now. What's your price? You clearly got a score to settle. I cut out early on our deal but what are you upset about?"

"What do I want?" He questioned, "Let my people go, and let them be free."

"You think im doing something to your people?"

"Their bodies drop in your name, on your land, from those you will to be in control. I want my people to be free."

"Folks in hell want ice water."

"So I've been told." He said and neither of them had yet to touch their drinks. He leaned forward across the table and looked her in her eyes, "Just remember, I gave you a choice."

"Is that a threat?"

"God's don't make threats, you must know that." He said and stood up, placing the napkin across the dinner plate. "Dinner was lovely."

"Wait Nancy-"

"What is it?"

"Donar, did he-"

"Ain't no coming back from that, girl." He said, his voice dropped a few octaves. "Donar the Great is dead."

"And you blame me?"

"I blame Wednesday." He said.

"Then let's team up against him and forget all this ugliness."

"Oh, if it were only that easy." He said and picked up his hat and placed it on his head. "Regardless of who wins Wednesday war I have a responsibility to _my_ people, and to my Queen. When you are ready to concede then you know where to find me otherwise, prepare to lose him again."

"Who?" She asked.

"You ain't fooling no damn body, trying to hold that child for war. But he don't remember you and he ain't gonna remember you. There are no rules in war, I'll see you around."

"Same here." She said bitterly and killed the light on her cigarette on the side of her table while glaring daggers at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feels like forever since I updated. I would like to see Anansi and Columbia interact on the show, I think both their personalities would be sizzling on screen.


	12. Face these fears alone or together.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bilquis is worried for Shadow at Lakeside and it's Anansi's job to put her fears to rest. But his own fears lay here within the lodge. He cares about her, he really cares, which is a stupid thing. Gods are not supposed to care but then again Gods aren't supposed to go to war for their worshipers either.

When he returned to the home they were sharing he was surprised to find how silent she was, and yet entirely too loud. The way she'd set a glass upon the table or open the curtains. She was aiming all her energy at him and he was entirely unsure as to why. Sure she had centuries worth of information to be mad at him about, but nothing he did recently. So he let her move about angrily, before he finally settled into his spot near the fire pit.

“Something wrong?” He is

“That...thing, is a threat to Shadow.”

“You mean to you.”

“Do you no longer care about what happens to me?”

“If you need a reason to bow out of this war gracefully then I understand. You’re free to leave whenever you want.” He said.

“I have intentions on doing no such thing.” She said, “While you were eating with the enemy I was keeping him out of his clutches.”

“Just as Cairo belongs to the Children of the Nile, Lakeside  belongs to a different a different God. If they do not want us there we cannot enter, have a bit more faith in Shadow. You’ve seen what he’s capable of.”

“I have?” She asked, her voice grew closer and closer with each passing second, it also grew more and more worried. He didn't like that, she was always sure of her place in the world and the things she needed to do. He needed her to be sure now more than ever. 

“Wednesday will protect his investment until the desire time comes.”

“And then what?”

“Come sit beside me, the fire is nice.” He said and she moved from behind him and took a seat beside him, holding her hands out. 

“How is she?”

“Who?” He asked.

“Columbia.”

“Still the same, strong in all the wrong ways, believing she can diplomat her way out of this.” He said, “People pour into this country and she doesn’t know how to deal with them, in a new world where they know all of America’s atrocity and bring their own Gods. True, she inherited the title as we all do but has never tried to right the wrongs.”

“As you did?”

“When it comes to this merry go-round existence that is the mortal coil, all we can do is try, my Queen. She has failed to even try.”

“Tell me something.” She said after a beat of silence. 

“Anything.” 

“How close are we to war?”

“Depends on how close Shadow Moon is to death.”

“Your jokes are not funny, my livelihood hinges upon his fate.” She said and he waved it away and placed his head in her lap, she ran her fingers through his hair while looking into the fire.

“So what was it like?” He asked while plucking a lone feather from the ground.

“What are you talking about?”

“You’ve never met the winged ones before, have you?” He questioned.

“Briana stopped by, mainly to threaten you.” She said, “She’s an excitable one, I can see how she ended up fooled by someone as brazen as you.”

“You say it like its a bad thing.” He said, yes, he had grown to care about her after an on again and off again relationship for the better half of one hundred and fifty years. 

“John is a good fit for her, kind, and considerate, and...bigger.” She said with that desirous tilt in her voice. 

“You know you’re going to go and hurt my feelings one of these days. I could make myself bigger if that’s what you like.”

“Anansi, I like you just as you are.” She said and he can feel the honesty in her words, there is no need for Gods to go around voicing how they may or may not feel about one another. It comes out eventually through their actions, but the verbal validation is still nice. How incredibly human of him to crave it from someone like her. “As crazy as that seems and feels to hear myself say aloud.”

“Finally growing on you.” He said and she doesn’t deny it. “Tell me a story, my Queen.”

“Well...I … I’m not sure I can tell them as well as you.”

“Well of course not, if I thought you could then I’d be putting myself out of work. Just...do your best.”

“Never change, Anansi.” She said and laughed softly before telling him quite a few wanton and comical limericks. He likes this side of her, sensual and funny, it reminds him of a less dire time in their lives when they were able to be Gods without any consequences. Much, much later when they’re out of stories, the fire starts to die down, and his back can’t handle laying on the floor for much longer he stood up and held his hand out to her. 

“I’m not the Godling I used to be, can’t lay on the floor all night.”

“I’m sure you could with the proper encouragement.” She said and took his hand. 

“I’ve missed this side of you.”

“Well I can’t be witty while selling war.” She said and allowed herself to be led to a bedroom.

“There’s no war to sell here.” He said and closed the door behind him, “Just you and me. Be as witty as you feel.”

“When did you get to be so seductive, Anansi?” She asked.

“Maybe I’ve always been this way and you’re finally starting to notice.”

“If you say so.” She said, much later when all the fire has disappeared from the pit they lay beside one of another. It isn’t inherently sexual, he enjoys her company even if he isn’t touching her or buried deep within her. He loves her. That’s a difficult pill to swallow, even if he wasn’t  a God. “Something wrong?”

“No, everything’s perfect.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They have such a long and complicated history with one another. I'm still trying to deduce what happens when all this death (and sacrifice and worship) happens in Bilquis name but in the form of war. Will it draw too much attention? Too much power? More Kings? Or does she know how to wield all that power and put it to proper use?


	13. Choices

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Baron and Bast drop by the Lodge to request the right to take Shadows immortal soul, and Anansi and Bilquis discuss the future and the past.

The fortune is etched into her mind, her very existence hinges upon Shadow remaining alive. She can’t sleep or eat most days, not that she needs to, but it has become a part of her routine when fitting in with the waking world. Anansi is gone even more often, keeping an eye on Shadow where she can’t even get her hands on him. A tiny part of her is both jealous and in awe of him, who knew he’d be capable of this? She saw the hell left back home, she knew how he tried to right his wrongs, but she never thought he’d do all of this for the very humans who ransacked paradise.

It is almost human of him. Almost. An ancient voice in the back of her mind told her to be wary of Spider's interests. 

So she lay in bed wondering how to stay on this side of the dirt and not end up in that big mausoleum in the sky. There are times when she’s came close but she always managed to finesse her way out of death.

Death.

That’s what this all breaks down to. Everything in the universe dies and is reborn in one way or another, even humans, sometimes thousands of lightyears away from where they came to be, It would be poetic if she wanted to die, but she didn’t, and so she came back to where she started. How did she keep Shadow from dying when that was his fate? How did she keep herself alive?

“Baron. Why are you slinking around here?” Bilquis asked while staring up at the ceiling, she had been laying in bed to pass the time but heard him quite a while ago. He wasn’t subtle and didn’t try to be. 

“Oh, you know. Everybody wants to see the Queen but Anansi hides you so well.”

“He hides nothing, you just choose not to see.” She said and looked over to the doorway where he was standing. He did a mocking bow before she waved him in.

“It has been so long since we’ve seen one another.”

“That is true.”

“And you need the gates of death.”

“What makes you believe that?”

“Everybody knows Shadow Moon is not long for the waking world.” He said and took measured steps towards her. “And I can help that.”

“So can I.” Bast said and leapt from her form at the foot of the bed and circled the Baron. 

“So Kitty wants to play.” He said and pulled out his staff adorned with Vulcan’s skull, slamming it on the floor and she pulled out her claws, melding forms as she hissed at him, they circled one another waiting for the other to give in on any sign of weakness. “You and your family don’t deserve to bring him back.”

“Don’t talk about things you know nothing of, Baron.”

“I know you and your brothers left gates open, abandoned your people and abused the rites!” He said, his voice boomed shaking the entire lodge. So that’s what got a rise out of the playful Baron?

“That is our land, we do things differently.”

“It was lazy, and I could accept it if you did it with style at least.” He said. “It was simply tacky.”

“I’m keeping an eye on Shadow.” Bast said.

“And I will make sure he doesn’t become another lost soul in Cairo.” Baron said.

“What will it be, my Queen?” Bast asked and turned sharply and retracted her claws. 

“I cannot make any decision without Anansi present.” She said.

“So he holds your leash now? I always figured it was the other way.” Baron asked and chuckled.

“Bridle your tongue, Baron. Shadow’s life is what we worry for, I will send word on our choices. Until then you both can make yourself scarce, I’d like time alone.”

“Of course, my Queen.” Baron said before Bast could and headed for the door. They continued to bicker amongst themselves while she sat up and stretched in bed and once they were gone she looked to the corner of the room.

“Maybe one day you will tell me what game you’re playing, Anansi?”

“It’s fun, isn’t it?” He asked and spun out of his form and climbed down the wall, it was one of the few undignified things she ever saw him do publicly. He came down the wall and stood up straight dusting imaginary pieces of lint off his suit jacket. “Watching everything come to a head.”

“If you know how things will end.” She said, “Who goes to save Shadow?”

“Baron doesn’t actually give a shit about Shadow or him dying, he’s offended about being chosen last and that Ibis and Jacquel were leaving the rites unchecked.” He said. “Bast cares, but that’s for personal reasons, which makes it messy. So neither one them technically care the way a God should.”

“You love the drama of it all.” She said.

“And you don’t?” He said with a sly smile.

“It is...inspiring.” She said and floating across the room to where he was standing. “So who do we you choose?”

“Both.”

“I don’t think you understand what making a choice actually entails.” She said. 

“It’s better this way.” He said and swept her off her feet. “They both respect you and if they know you are tethered to Shadow, then they’ll get their asses in gear.”

“And if they don’t?”

“How human of you to question the intentions of Gods.” He said and chuckled while carrying her through the lodge. “We’re Gods, we have back up plans.”

“You never fail to surprise me, Anansi.” She said, “So...you promised Baron an audience with Jacquel?”

“We’ll have every dead soul on this side of the world on our side, even the ones sacrificed to so-called Gods.” He said, “It levels the playing field.”

“I suppose.” She said, “But what if Thoth and Jacquel disagree?”

“We are old Gods, my love.” He said, “The Baron left his home, his wife and his people to speak to Thoth and Jacquel. We both know that shit don’t happen everyday, at the very least they will be amused and take the bait."

"I like this side of you."

"Which side is that?"

"Your meticulous nature." She said, "It does make me wonder what you need me for."

"Every King needs a Queen."

"You're a King, now?"

"No." He said and sat with her near the fire. "But Shadow could be."

"Don't be modest now." She said and reached up and plucked the hat off the top of his head. He looked away from her and stared deep into the fire. "What are you hiding from me?"

"Where will you go after this?"

"Wherever our people take me, that's how this works, right? Why do you ask?Do you have need of me elsewhere?" She asked and it's just a shadow of a second but she sees it. She's seen the look enough in her Godhood to know love when she sees it, has she finally stolen his heart or has it been hers all along? "You want me to stay."

"Folks in hell want ice water, if you want the choice is yours. But yes, I'd like it if you stayed."

"Why now?" She asked, yes this complicates things considerably. Anansi is the last of a group of God's from a very old world. Those doors have been locked to that Kingdom for eons. They have a long and complicated history together. 

"I respect you too much to continue lying to you." He said. "But there's no rush, we still have time."

"Since you're in the mood for truth," She said and rested her head against his shoulder. "How does this story end?"

"I like this ending particularly. Lots of blood and explosions-"

"No, I mean us." She said and placed her hand over his.

"I like that particular ending too." He said and linked their fingers. 

"Well don't keep me waiting." She said and he tells her the good parts and the bad, she continues to weigh the pros and cons. Life and death. A life with love and a death without it. "Show me."

"Show you what?" He questioned.

"How long you've hidden this love from me." She said, without any hesitation he leaned in closer pressing his forehead against her own. He feels so strongly and passionately about so much that it is almost overwhleming. How long had he been able to keep these feelings contained. "What did I do to frighten you, to make you feel like you had to hide this?"

"It was nothing you did." He said and pulled away slowly and looked into the fire. He did his best to hide and block off that part of himself but she was able to get a glimpse at his tattered memories of home. Their old home is so far away from this one and locked away, after all this time he still blames himself, unable to see that it was inevitable. Paradise is temporary like nearly everything else on this  mortal plane of existence. She wonders if whatever is growing between them is temporary as well.

"I'll think about it." She said and cupped his face in her hands. 

"Think about what?" 

"Staying." She said, then she leaned forward and kissed him. It was slower and softer. Anansi bears too many scars like many Gods do. She wondered if this war would make it worse. "Tell me more about Columbia."

"Why?"

"I need to know who I'm going up against."


	14. A Change of Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Samedi comes to Cairo. Secrets exposed. Alliances reforged.

Ibis knows many Gods of Death and Samedi is one of the most lewd and unruly ones. There is method to his madness and he has written his story time and time again. It changes as his motive changes and Samedi straddles that line of life and death perfectly, so he can feel when the man arrives in Cairo. He leaves his traces over the city, healing where he feels and hurting where he needs to. As if someone has snapped him up into a trap he feels him slam a door shut, It is as close to a slap in the face as either he or Jacquel could come to. Ibis placed the scalpel down, letting it clatter on the preparation table before stepping out into the main hall.

"Doing awful good for yourself, Birdman." Samedi said while walking up the steps.

"To what end does Cairo owe this prestigous visit." He said and stared him up and down before folding his arms behind his back.

"Where's the dog?"

"I wasn't aware you could answer a question with another question."

"I don't owe you an answer, little bird." Samedi said.

"I think you forget the rules of this land, Cairo is my domain."

"And death is mine, and you and your ilk have been dipping and dabbing where you have no business. So I'll ask again, where's the dog?" He asked and circled Ibis before walking past him. He walked deeper into their home looking around.

"He's away on business."

"Creating more 'fortunate accdients', I'll assume."

"I see you've been talking to Anansi."

"Spider and I have a long working relationship, but I wouldn't have had to say a word to him to know what you've been up to. Death is my domain and dead bodies talk the loudest."

"So you're joining his pointless war?"

"Oh ye of little faith." Samedi said and continued to walk through the funeral home until he happened upon the cathedral. "I'd think a well read man such as yourself would know that no war is pointless, especially when it comes to Gods."

"How so?"

"Bodies fall in our name, some have more than others." He said and turned to stare at him while sitting on the steps near the altar. He twirled his staff idly as if thinking of something and Ibis could see that Vulcan's skull sit atop his staff. That would make things particularly...sticky later on. "We all were dragged to this land, to make the best of what we could. Nobody would get their toes stepped on, or so we said in the beginning."

"Do you feel like we've somehow managed to step on your toes all the way up here?"

"I've seen Cairo and I'm not impressed with what you've allowed to happen, to abuse long established rites." He said, "That world is not to be known until it is time and yet you force judgement."

"And it took Anansi's false war to bring you to this lovely, yet ill informed conclusion?"

"Not at all but I've been dealing with things. Pulling folks out of the water, still dealing with that Hurricane. Pulling my people back from the edge. There was no Cairo with an outstretched hand during those times."

"No, I'm afraid we didn't--"

"But Spider, he found his way to us once and then again. While you sit here in this lovely house he was out there making shit happen." Samedi said and stood up, of course Anansi did nothing for free. He wondered if he sent Samedi up here, he was still a respected God.  "So I've devoted myself to his war and his Queen all to ask you one question."

"And what is that?"

"You're aware that you're not the only Death Gods, right?"

"Of course."

"Cairo could fall under anybody's jurisdiction."

"You sound almost as if you were making a threat." Ibis said, and there it is, a spark and both of their masks slip for just a second.

"I'd think carefully before backing Wednesday in this war. I'm no fool, ol' Thoth. Wednesday is promising you bodies, bodies galore, but I often wonder will they be humans or God sacrifices?"

"I believe you've overstayed your welcome." Thoth said, Samedi nodded politely and tipped his hat before allowing himself to be escorted to the door. "One more thing."

"What is that, Baron?"

"Let your sister know it's nothing personal, all business, that I will be the one escorting Shadow."

"Duly noted." Thoth said and watched as he walked out of the Funeral home and disappeared deep into Cairo. He wondered just how far Anansi's war would stretch and who would get caught in the crosshairs. He was surprised to see Jacquel back around the house, he came down the steps and stared at him.

"Something wrong?"

"Yes, I need you to pay a visit to Anansi. To send word."

"Why now?"

"I believe Anansi has promised Samedi his soul, and we cannot have that." Thoth said. "Samedi has had well over a hundred years to come and visit us to talk about the troubling tale of Willie James. This is bigger than his supposed rituals being ignored or altered."

"You sound worried."

"We are very old Gods, but respect has no place on a chessboard."

"And what of Wednesday and Shadow?"

"Anansi still has use for them, for now." Thoth said.

"So be it, I'll be back, and possibly with more souls."

"See to it that he gets the message."

"And what's that?"

"We are willing to play his game for now until there can be a reckoning."

"Oh, it's nice to see this side of you again." Jacquel said and lifted his coat off the hook near the door, he had a charming smile on his face.

"Which side is that?"

"Seeing you...just a little shaken up."

"I'm not shaken just...cautious."

"If you say so, I'll be back soon."

"I'll be counting the minutes." Thoth said and watched as he left through the front door. He returned to his office where a body was waiting to be treated properly. The scalpel shook under his hand for a moment before he steadied his nerves, out the corner of his eye he could see Bast trying to creep out of sight. "Why does Samedi think you're going to guide Shadow through death?"

"A misunderstanding."

"Are you joining Anansi's war?"

"Shadow knows nothing of this world, brother. He needs help." Bast said calmly and confidently.

"Don't fall for the boy, you know what ends we need him for."

"I'm not falling for anyone." Bast said and shifted her forms. "Where's Jacquel?"

"I sent him out on business, you wanted in on this war, now we're in."

"But you have a plan, right?"

"Always, dear sister, always."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think Samedi would be cool with everything going on in Cairo, or the fact that he was suddenly on board with helping Wednesday despite flat out refusing to ride the carousel. Samedi isn't subtle at all nor would he try to be, I think I'd like to see them all interact in the show at one point.


	15. Long Live America

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Uncle Sam finds the love of his life, and pays dearly for it.

“Another drink, I built this fucking country!” Samuel said, the bartenders looked up from their customers to one another wondering whose turn it was to serve him. He had been sulking here every since that brat had arrived at the Manor and stole all of Colombia’s attention away from him. It’s not that he particularly cared about his wife, but she was his ever since the downfall of that telephone maniac. He had bided his time patiently and now this brat wanted to take what was rightfully his, again?

No.

He didn’t get this old by not knowing anything, he planted bugs in the kids ear whenever they were alone. He talked about Donar, how ol’ Donny bit the bullet quite literally. How manipulative and condescending Colombia could be. They talked about Holly. They talked about the future. All the while the kid had this weird, strange, kind-of glossed over look about him.

He was fresh off the presses.

Good.

That would make him easier to control. 

Colombia had began spending even more time with the God they called Tech-Boy. He was fresh faced and still easy to cull, he thought all his time of manipulating had paid off but it hadn’t. He seemed even more smitten and taken with her than ever before. There were old secrets about Colombia that even he didn’t know. If he couldn’t have her, he damn sure wasn’t going to give up years of hard work to some fucking kid. 

That’s why he was here getting purposely shit faced. Money didn’t like distractions or being interrupted, he could do both, it would also put Anansi back in his place. The man never fancied himself being a God, nor a savior. He didn’t know what to make of him, just that he knew that he was always in the background listening and waiting. 

“Drinks are on me.” A woman said and placed a stack of hundreds down on the bar. 

“My savior.”

“Lets not move so fast.” She said, “I don’t even know your name.”

“Everyone calls me Sam. Uncle Sam, sometimes.”

“You don’t look old enough to be anybody’s uncle.” 

“You keep talking like that and I’ll let you take me home.”

“I might take you up on that.” She said, there is something familiar and hypnotic about her. The more he drinks and talks to her the more enthralled he is, and who is he to turn down her offer to meet him in the restroom in a few minutes? He stumbled down the hallway, forgetting his plan to jeopardize the meeting with Money. If it was possible to fall in love over drinks then this is it, he is worshipping her before his pants even hit the floor. 

Colombia.

Tech boy.

Wars.

It all disappears from his mind when he’s inside her. He’s never been this deep inside anyone and that’s when he feels it, that’s when the magic wears off and he remembers her. An old Queen from an even older world, way before his time. He disappear slowly, first his hips, then his thighs and legs, finally before he begins to slip fully inside of her, become one with her.

It’s actually quite right.

 

Despite having chased after Colombia for a lifetime, she isn’t on his mind in his final moments. The words fall from his lips before he’s swallowed whole.

 

_ “So this is what love is like?” _


	16. An offer you can't refuse.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A meeting with money and an artifact believed to be lost to time which raises more questions than it gives answers.

Money is an old God, as long as humans have been trying to fuck one another over, Money has been there to barter the weight of souls in gold or whatever trifle they use. Money is neutral, neither leaning on one side or the other, always focused on keeping his Kingdom strong. Money is an odd God with a story that is always changing, a God who doesn’t see themselves as powerful and yet still know they are above war. 

“Look at you, money!” Anansi said and spun over to the table, Money looks different to every person. To some he is old, to others he is young, his race, his height, it’s always changing. Money is a young pale man, skinny with brown hair and hunched over a calculator and thick notebook. “You look like shit.”

“What is it, Anansi? I’m busy.” He said and had yet to look away from his calculator while writing in numbers. 

“Colombia wants to go to war.” Anansi said. 

“And what about you?” He asked.

"I want...freedom."

"Freedom comes at a cost." Money said and looked up at him with a shit eating grin. It's always easy to rope Money in if you know how to play to his strengths and weaknesses. "What are you willing to pay?"

"Now don't get started without us, boys." Colombia said from behind Anansi. "I have something to offer as well."

"Like?" Someone said,  Anansi looked beyond her to see Tech boy. He could see the boy was changed, fresh, reborn in a way he'd never want to be able to put his finger on. Colombia had even taken to dressing him up in a way she felt was fitting. His hair slicked back and shoved into a very cheap, tweed suit. She was trying to mold him, make him remember being someone he’d never be again. 

"America!" She exclaimed. "What about you?"

"Well John wouldn't part with his hammer." Anansi said and watched as they took their seat beside Money. "So I had to dig up something else."

"Do share." Tech boy said and placed a napkin in his lap, he looked to her for approval and she nodded. She seemed less like a partner and more like a mother. Disgusting. 

"World's not gonna like you being here." Anansi said in a sing-songy way. 

"World doesn't run me, doesn’t run shit." Tech boy said, and on cue Colombia rubbed his shoulders as if rewarding his defiance. Anansi is unsure if Tech Boy is telling him something he doesn’t know or if the Godling has to tell himself that to quiet his fears. True, World might not run him but he wouldn't take his defiance sitting down.

"If you say so son." Anansi said.

"Well...sit so we can start this meeting." Tech boy snapped at Anansi.

"Can't start without my Queen." Anansi said, his eyes hardened and he tensed. No, there would be time later to take the boy apart piece by piece, he’d let Ibis and Jacquel have their fun. 

"Charming." Colombia said, Bilquis headed over to the table slowly smiling at people nearby. "You're late."

"A Queen is never late, everyone else is simply early." She said, she pointed to the clock and they watched as it began to rewind itself, the humans moved backwards, drinks pouring back into glasses, laughter dying before she allowed the flow of time to continue as it had. Time may not have affected them but humans did, and if she continued to fuck with their flow of time a lot of dangerous Gods would be breathing down their necks. Good. Anansi pulled.out her chair for her and pushed it in once she was seated. 

"Not in America." Tech boy said.

"Especially in America." Bilquis said and looked up at Anansi. "Do you have what you desired so deeply?"

"Of course I do." Anansi said and took his seat, he looked to Colombia watching her every move. She had already looked around several times when she believed them not to looking. 

"Money, it has been far too long." Bilquis said and held out her hand, he took it and kissed the back of it.

"Wait, you know him too?" Tech boy asked.

"I forget children are at the table." Bilquis said, "I've known him long before his name was Money."

"You look well, my Queen."

"You're far too kind, but we are not here to bestow compliments on one another." She said, "We are here to talk about War."

"Where is that darling husband of mine?" Colombia asked while peering around the bar. "By this point in the night he's usually embarrassing himself and me."

"I'm sure wherever he is, he's having a good time." Anansi said, he cleared his throat before a dusty case descended from the ceiling and was placed gently on the table. Anansi did the honors and cracked it open, the item inside was dusty but alive still. A living, writhing hammer sat the table and Money was all but salivating over it. It is old, but well taken care of with runes etched in it that writhe and move all on their own despite the God being long gone.

"Is that…" Colombia looked down at it and swallowed.

"I present Thor's hammer." 

"Where the hell did you get that?" Colombia asked, her voice raising slightly, she pushed up from the table and glared down at it, reaching for it. The lid snapped shut and slid back across the table towards them. This was as close as any of them would get to resurrecting him. It made all of the trouble worth acquiring to see that look on her face. "Nancy, where did you find that?"

“We are not here to answer questions we are here to talk about War.” Bilquis said and gave her a pointed look. 

"Doesn't matter where you got it." Money said, "It's old, it's valuable, I’ve been tracking this for quite a while.."

"This isn't the last you've heard of me." Colombia said and stood up fully, she tugged Tech boy away while Money drooled over the hammer. Bilquis opened the case again and placed her hand over it, yes it was old and quite powerful but significantly weaker than it had once been. She wondered just what Anansi was hiding. 

"Well that was surprisingly easy." Bilquis said.

"We still have Sam to contend with."

"He won't be a problem, I promise." Bilquis said, she watched as Money ran his fingers along the hammer inside it’s container. Then it simply ‘poofed’ out of existence. One pop. Gone.. "Is this all?"

"We should go out, and celebrate!" Anansi exclaimed and grabbed a bottle of champagne passing by. "And in the name of Shadow Moon."

"May I ask why?" She asked as Money quickly documented the hammer. 

"He gave us the hammer and the war. Seems your boy toy is doing good work up there." He said and popped the bottle. 

"And his soul?"

"In capable hands."

“And how exactly did he get us the Hammer?”

“That’s not quite as interesting.” He said and popped the cork on the bottle of champagne. 

“If you want me to stay here, little spider, you’re going to have to be more forthcoming.” She said and stood up, she lifted the bottle of champagne from his hand and headed towards the door. Anansi followed behind her closely, once they were outside and within the wild crowd of the night she spoke again. “What do you think Wednesday will do to you if he finds out you have his son’s things? Things it seems that no one has been able to track for years?”

“My Queen, you’re assuming he cares.” Anansi said, “And that transaction was only done around friends and enemies I trust. I am right to trust you, hm?”

“You don’t have to worry about me saying anything.” Bilquis said.

“Now it’s my turn to ask the questions.” Anansi said.

“And what question is that?”

“What do you think Colombia will do when she finds out what you have done to her little mascot of a husband?” Anansi asked. “He may have been a pain in her ass, but he was hers, and a very powerful figure. America will begin to feel the effects of his disappearance soon enough.”

“Oh, I know he was powerful, but America will adjust.” Bilquis said and stole a look at herself in the window of a passing storefront. Yes, even he can see the differences. Youthful. More vibrant. Quicker. Stronger. “Do I have to worry about you not keeping my secrets?”

“My Queen are you trying to swear me to secrecy? I’ve heard I could be quite a gossip..”

“Is it working?” She asked.

“A little.” He said, “I might be persuaded if you share your drink with me.”

“It’s a start.” Bilquis said and handed him the bottle of Champagne. “Now that Money has the Hammer…”

“The real fun begins.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't forgotten this, I promise.


	17. A Looming Threat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New Media has a few questions.

“Hey, World, can we talk for a second?” New Media asked, she didn’t see the need to creep around him and tiptoe, she hadn’t done anything wrong yet. It seemed each day he was more and more on edge, especially after the second death of Vulcan. He had been so angry he knocked out the electricity in the bunker for a few moments. She suggested going out there and recovering his body but World informed her that they would just keep coming. So she began to wonder just which group he was talking about this time?

Wednesday flew under the radar over night, leaving Shadow Moon to defend himself against the wild Gods out there that wanted him dead or to recruit him. New Media couldn’t quite understand this new storm brewing but there were some interesting figures, outdated Gods believed to be lost to time. Yet here they were, gathering, plotting, and planning, but to what end?

“I’m pressed for time but what is it?” World asked, his voice wheezing and sighing.

“Where’s the girl?”

“You’re the girl, don’t tell me you’ve lost track of yourself.”

“No I mean the other other girl that was here before.”

“The Queen? I assumed she ran with her metaphorical tail tucked between her legs. Why do you ask?”

“I’ve been doing a little extra work around here.” New Media said, “And I saw her with Uncle Sam, that’s not normal is it?”

“Have you seen Sam since?” World asked.

“No, it’s like he disappeared, but the Queen, she looks rather youthful lately.” New Media said attempting to plant the seeds of doubt there. “You don’t think that she would...of course not with our own allies…”

“Colombia is not our Ally, and neither was her bumbling husband.”World explained, “Colombia will support whichever God wins this war, she is fairweather and she mourns the loss of a man from a binding of convenience.” 

“What do you mean?”

“Lets expand your mind.” World said, “To a world  before bandwidth, and when a man named Thor wanted to be King.”

“What happened?” New Media asked.

“He lost it all including Colombia, and then himself.. She moved on from the love of her life, what do you think she will do with us? On our quest as Gods?”

“Move on?” She questioned.

“Now you’re thinking.” World said and placed his hat on his head. “But since you’re so interested in our Queen, find her, and get her over to our side and away from the Moon.”

“Will do, Captain!” New Media said and watched as he walked away. She’d dig deeper into this old Queen and see just what working two ends against the middle looked like. 


	18. A new home.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ibis heads to the lodge and Anansi tries to win him over.

The Lodge isn’t quite home, it will be enough for now, but it isn’t home. But how long has it been since he’s been home? The feel of fresh earth under his feet, feel of the eternal fire warming him and the feel of his Goddess. He was brash, arrogant and too swift, too worried about titles, already being morphed and changed by the little humans of Earth. Anansi doesn’t allow himself to regret things often, it slows down the story but sometimes he thinks of home, and what it could’ve been had he not tried to rush that story. His thoughts fade as he enters the Lodge.

 

He tries not to allow himself to regret, it distracted him from the story at hand and this is no different now. Ibis sat on the floor near the firepit, his hands outstretched, a series of books seated around him.

 

“Do my eyes deceive me?” Anansi questioned, he popped his hat off his head and sent it sailing across the room perfectly onto a waiting coating rack. “Did the Children of the Nile actually leave Cairo?”

 

“I heard your call.”

 

“I don’t think that’s quite the truth, brother.” Anansi said, “If you had heard the call you would’ve come to the Carousel, you wouldn’t have let that damned tree grow there. I think it’s something more.”

 

“Was it you who sent Samedi to my front door?” Ibis asked, he lifted an aged flask from between his legs and sipped. “That was a nice touch.”

 

“Actually that sounds like a whole lot of ‘none of my damn business’, Thoth.” Anansi said, he walked slowly over to Ibis and the pit and finally took a seat beside him. He tucked one of his legs beneath him and faced Ibis, “Though this isn’t the first call you’ve missed, the one you’ve ignored. While you grew thick with sacrifices, we floated, we burned, we hung.”

 

“So this is you punishing me?” Ibis asked, Anansi had leaned closer and closer with each word, he reveled in his old friends discomfort. 

 

“I’m hurt that you think I couldn’t be a tad bit more creative in punishing you.” Anansi said cupped Ibis’ chin in his hand. “We’ve known each other far too long to know I’m far more skilled than bare faced threats.”

 

“So what is this?”

 

“This is about Shadow.” Anansi said and pulled back, he leaned back on two hands. “Baldur by another name.”

 

“And what do we have to do with this?”

 

“This is about all of us, getting by is no longer enough. The quota has gone up, old friend. We need to save us, and that means a few heads will have to roll.”

 

“You still think the humans and their suffering is sacred.”

 

“Cairo is all but a ghost town, the New Gods already have your replacements lined up, and half of our followers think White Jesus is gonna take them to Nazi heaven with him,” Anansi said and sighed, “What I think is that you are stuck in the past and I’m looking on to greener pastures and you can’t handle it.”

 

“How so?” Ibis asked, Anansi plucked the aged, golden flask from his hand and sipped the ambrosia inside. 

 

“I am trying to create a friendlier market for some of us, while you are simply bathing in blood hoping it will replenish while desecrating your source as each day passes.” Anansi said, “How long until your sources run out? You got what, another hundred years before the gig is up?”

 

“What is your point?”

 

“Wednesday may give you bodies now, but you need to think about what happens in the long run.” Anansi said. “What will happen when Wednesday doesn’t have any use for you anymore?”

 

“Wednesday hasn’t--”

 

“I’m no fool, so don’t play me for one.” Anansi said and gargled the ambrosia before spitting it into the fire, and watched as the flames fell onto both of them showing their true forms. “You are here now, with us, make the best of us and then make your choice.”

 

“What does your Queen have to say?”

 

“Oh, she’s busy working.” Anansi said and looked into the flame, a tall spider looking down into the fire searching for an answer. “Wining and dining and what not.”

 

“And you do know what she’s done?” Ibis asked, of course he knew what she had done. Anansi knew that Uncle Sam was somewhere much more useful to them, and without any of the pain of rebirth. 

 

“Yes.” Anansi said, “I know all too well.”

 

“Young and brash Colombia won’t take this easily.” Ibis said, “Third times the charm, I suppose.” 

 

“I know that as much.” Anansi said.

 

“That is not why you’ve brought me here?”

 

“I didn’t bring you here at all, the mutt did.” Anansi said. 

 

“Jacquel sends his best, he’s out...contracting.” Ibis said and smirked. 

 

“Can’t teach an old dog new tricks, I suppose.” Anansi said and looked to the door and Bilquis stepped through, she looked distressed and he stretched back into his form despite how it ripped and tore his skin so. “Something wrong?”

 

“Shadow’s in jail.”

 

“Shit.”Anansi cursed under his breath and summoned his hat from across the room. “You got sand in your shoes? You heard her, boys in trouble, you’re coming too.”

 

“I’m unsure as to how your inability to keep track of one God is my business.” Ibis said and folded his arms across his chest. 

 

“Our house, our rules.” Anansi said and looked to Bilquis. “Right?”

 

“Right.” Bilquis agreed. 

 

“Whatever my Queen demands.” Ibis said and righted himself before making his way to the door. “My Queen may I beg you to have Jacquel stay put when he returns?”

 

“Of course, anything, old friend.” Bilquis said. Anansi knows Ibis isn’t won over to his side of thinking, and more so that he isn’t able to just give up his crop of easily harvested souls. But he has time to work on him, and he’s already won over harder Gods. 


	19. Coming full circle.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shadow is rescued from jail, but how? Why did these two of all the Gods come to help him?

As long as he has known of them Mr. Wood and Mr. Stone haven’t been dead, at least he doesn’t think so, he doesn’t know where these bodies come from, and he has nothing to do with him. Regardless of that he is still carted away in handcuffs, and he hates that this is starting to become a habit. Cold cell, cold food, no phone call, simply one little spider hanging above his head.  As he stared up at a flickering light, he laughed softly and began to speak to the spider.

“It’s like ever since I met Mr. Wednesday my life has been turned upside down. Guess I should quit calling him mister. Dad? That feels wrong too, it all feels wrong.” Shadow slumped down on the seat. The spider floating above him before flying back up towards the ceiling and scurrying away. 

He heard the rapping of a baton on the bars. Shadow hasn’t paid attention to a lot lately, he has been striving for finding the normalcy and only finding the exact opposite at every turn. He expected to be transported, after all they thought he killed not one but two people. Even now he’s not sure that he didn’t. Mr. Wood. Mr. Stone. More names in a book that he’d never understand. 

“If it isn’t Shadow Moon!” Mr. Nancy said, he looked down at his pocket watch and then back at him. 

“Aw fuck, not this guy…” Shadow said under his breath.

“Sorry, your girlfriend is long gone, couldn’t be caught helping you.” Anansi said and snickered.

“Laura?” Shadow questioned, but for some reason he thinks of sharp brown eyes and deep brown skin, he thinks of dreams with sweet smelling perfumes. Not Laura, but his mouth says it anyway. 

“Laura? Laura Moon? She’s off looking for a cure to death, hope she lets me know when she finds one. Samedi has always been a lying, tricky bastard.” Anansi said.

“I second that.” Ibis said, he is the only one who appears to be dressed like a cop. Black and blue. Shiny badge. Baton. He looks fully pissed off about it too. 

“Well, do you want to keep sitting here like a big sack of stupid or can we go?” Anansi asked, Shadow stood up slowly.

“Why did you even come if you were just going to insult me?” Shadow asked, he stretched and walked over to the gate. He doesn’t know how Anansi does it, just that the lock opens as if it has never been turned. “Where is everybody at?”

“Everybody? Lakeside is a sleepy town and very difficult to break into.” Anansi said, “But every lock has it’s weakness.”

“You didn’t answer my question.” Shadow said as he walked out of the cell and towards freedom.

“Didn’t know I was taking demands from the prisoner.” Anansi said. 

“He likes you, trust me, if he didn’t you’d be dead, three times over apparently.” Ibis said, Shadow saw that everyone seemed to have abandoned the place in a hurry, chairs flipped over, papers thrown, tables knocked over and a lone coffee pot on the floor still spilling warm coffee onto the floor.  

“What really happened?” Shadow asked, the longer he’s around his father’s friends the more he learns to ask the right questions, or questions that he hopes are right. 

“Sometimes humans, you see things that your mind can’t handle. Fight or flight.”

“You mean seeing a God.”

“He’s full of compliments today,” Anansi said to Thoth and then looked to Shadow, “I like you better this way.”

“What did you do?” Shadow asked.

“Nothing too bad, I’m not a monster.” Anansi said and snickered, “They’ll go home and think this all a bad dream, and Mr. Wood and Mr. Stone will never have existed.”

“You’re covering it up?”

“Covering up what?” Anansi asked.

“The fact I killed Mr. Stone and Mr. Wood.”

“You didn’t.” Ibis said gently. “We know who did and they’ll never look for them, consider this a favor from friends.”

“Because of Wednesday, right?”

“No, not because of Wednesday.” Anansi said and headed over to his car. “I wouldn’t lift a pinky to help you because of him. Ibis you can work your magic while we wait.”

“Of course, Anansi.” Ibis said, he walked out into the fog covered town disappearing. Shadow swore he could hear the sound of the flapping of wings but couldn’t see anything, but that was probably for the best. Anansi shrugged out of his suit jacket, tossing it inside the car and returning with a pack of cigarettes in hand. He leaned against the passenger side and lit one without a lighter. 

“So where’s Wednesday?” Shadow asked.

“How the fuck should I know?” Anansi said.

“You know way more than you let on.” Shadow said.

“Now that may be the smartest thing I’ve ever heard you say. You know once you learn to stop throwing punches and just sit back and watch you might just learn to hit the right motherfucker.” Anansi said. 

“That doesn’t answer the question.” Shadow said. 

“The All-Father doesn’t want to be found right now, and I can’t say I want to look for him.” Anansi said, “I have bigger fish to fry.”

“Like Bilquis?” Shadow asked. 

“Oh, she’s growing on you?” Anansi asked. “She always does in the end.”

“Who is she?” Shadow asked.

“C’mon, dig a little deeper, you know that’s not the question you want to ask.” Anansi said with a maddening smirk while blowing smoke from his nose. 

“Who is she to you? Why is she protecting you?” Shadow asked. “What do you have on her to make her stay around you?”

“Shadow, I’ve never had to force a woman to do anything.” Anansi said, he was boisterous and over confident but completely sure of himself in every moment. “Again, you’re asking the right questions. It’s not about me, it’s about you. Have you learned anything interesting about yourself lately?”

“You mean about Wednesday...being my Dad?”

“Deeper boy.” Anansi said and flicked the ashes off his cigarette. 

“I’m too tired to go any deeper.” Shadow said and rested his hulking frame against the car. 

“We’ve known each other a very long time. We grew up together, and she needs you and she needs you to not fuck this up for her.” Anansi said, “I wish I could put it nicer but I haven’t been nice in a very long time.” 

“Bilquis needs me?”

“Yes, she needs you to stay on the right side of the dirt and I’m seeing that’s a very difficult job to do.” Anansi said and smirked, “And I need her. So I need you.”

“Why do you need her?”

“There is a war coming--”

“With World?”

“No. Not World, or Road, Or Town or Stone and Wood’s dumb dead asses.” Anansi said, “It’s bigger than Wednesday’s farce of a war. It will decide who gets to live and who dies.”

“The Gods?” Shadow asked. 

“No, the humans.” Anansi said.

“So you’re fighting for me?”

“Shadow, you’re not fully human.” Anansi said, he sounds tired and drops the cigarette crushing it under his boot. “And I’m sorry that you had no choice in it.”

“But I can still die?”

“Anything can die, Shadow Moon.” Anansi said. “And in these coming days you need to figure out what you’re willing to live for and decide what you’re going to die for.”

“Why wait until now to tell me all of this?” Shadow said. 

“Because a beautiful and impeccably dressed man walking up to you and telling you you’re not human doesn’t always get the best results, besides you half human.”

“And so after all of this I’m just supposed to trust you, huh?” Shadow questioned.

“No, you’re not. When somebody walks up to you and tells you they’re a God you laugh in their face, and when they show you they’re one you turn around and walk away. I used to think it was because you were dumb but now I’m starting to see it’s more than that.”

“What is it then?” Shadow asked, he quieted his anger for now. 

“Somewhere deep down you want to be here, with us, in this war. Which is also pretty fucking stupid.” Anansi said and smirked, and it’s the final straw for Shadow. Months of his quips, jabs and annoying little quirks finally boiled over and Shadow lunged out. Anansi dodged the blow Shadow tried to send towards him, he sidestepped each punch and blow, even taking time to light another cigarette between punches. “And if you are pulled into our little war, you’re going to have to learn to not be moved by every word you here.”

“So this was a test.” Shadow said while out of breath, he was hunched over and tried to figure out why Mr. Nancy could move as fast as he did. 

“Think of it more as securing an investment.”

“So I owe you for getting me out of jail?”

“You owe me for a whole hell of a lot, just add it to the tab.” Anansi said, he looked back to see Ibis stepping back through the fog. “Bird beak this is not the time for a Sunday stroll, I’m on a tight schedule.”

“Your Queen is going nowhere, take in the sights for once, young man.” Ibis said to Anansi as he approached the car. Shadow got into the backseat of the car and relaxed, it was more comfortable than the stiff bench he had sat on before. For once he had a taste of some information, he wasn’t sitting in the darkness and hoping monsters didn’t come to kill him. He knew the monsters and they were on his side, for now at least. 

“Is it all taken care of?” Anansi asked while getting in the car. 

“Yes, of course.” Ibis said once he was inside the car. “Shadow, how are you feeling?”

“Fine, I guess.” Shadow said, outside of the confusion, the murder plot and the fact that maybe Mr. Nancy didn’t hate him, he was fine, he supposed.

“Do you want to stop and get something to eat?” Ibis asked.

“Stop mothering him!” Anansi said. 

“I could eat.” Shadow said.

“Off to Denny’s it is then.” Ibis said,

“You know I remember when they wouldn’t let us in there.”Anansi said and revved up the engine. 

“But time has changed things, has it not?” Ibis asked.

“This is America, birdbeak, nothing changes without blatant force.” Anansi said and they drove away from the sleepy town of Lakeside. Shadow had to wonder just what it was that Anansi wanted him to do, enough to risk telling him all the things that he had without laying a hand on Shadow for lashing out. Shadow laid back on the seats trying to get as comfortable as he could, hoping that soon all of this would be over, that he would wake up from this neverending nightmare. 


	20. The Storyteller.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New Media meets with Colombia and paints an interesting target on her back in the process.

World has become more distant and Tech Boy is never there, but when he is there he’s oddly content. They’re Gods, ideas in the physical, here to bestow thanks for the sacrifice they receive but it seems Tech Boy hasn’t changed, not yet. Earth has a way of tainting and changing Gods, warping their minds and making them think things that aren’t true, and making them worshipers of humans instead of the other way around. After all, why are they chasing Shadow instead of leading the lamb to slaughter?

Colombia is a welcome distraction, and so is their old and disloyal Queen. Bilquis cozied up to Shadow but New Media isn’t buying that she’s trying to do anything to help their side. Gods don’t get as old as her just to hand over what could bring them many more years on Earth and many more worshipers. Colombia strutted through the bunker, stopping in the middle of the room and throwing her hands up in the air.

“I got your message, little internet goddess or whoever the devil you are.” Colombia said, the midwestern twang hasn’t left her speech pattern even after decades out West. Strange. Some Gods held onto the old parts of themselves until the very ends it seemed. 

“Good.” New Media said and materialized behind her.

“Fucking hell…” Colombia said and turned slowly. “Do you always gotta do that? Just pop up like that?”

“You called, I came. That’s the way it works.” New Media said cheerfully before tugging her over to the couch to sit down. “I wanted to talk about--”

“He doesn’t want to come home, he’s happy where he is.” Colombia said immediately and defensively, her cold blue eyes going hard and daring New Media to push forward. New Media had learned a thing or two since entering this world, like how to smile to lower others guards. But that wasn’t working on Colombia, she was smarter than the rest. New Media would have to switch her line of attack.

“I don’t care about him. Ew.” New Media said and shook away the thought of the loser God who was too foolish to know when to play God or Human, and how to turn his unworthy worshipers into sacrifices. “I’m talking about Sam.”

“What about him? Has he been about?” Colombia asked casually.

“No, and he won’t be.”

“And why not, sug’?” Colombia asked, it’s that midwestern charm that is the most confusing, New Media hasn’t mastered it. How can she sound so worried and yet completely unfazed? How can those hard blue eyes soften in a way that almost makes her pity her? Almost. New Media spends so much time with humans that it’s easy to lose herself in their emotions.

She just tells herself it’s all ones and ohs. Ones and ohs. That’s all. It’s not real, because if she lets it become real then things become messy. After all, she’s seen kindness and generosity but depravity as well, she’s seen what these corporations hide and what human trafficking really is the face for. Because if she let’s things become reals, she starts to feel, starts to run on emotions and then she fucks up. When she starts to fuck up, that’s when she can be replaced just as easily as any of the half baked Gods of before. 

So….ones and ohs it is. It has to be, just has to. 

“Bilquis has him.”

“Where?” Colombia demanded, she sat up straight and New Media can feel age old wrath rolling off of her in thick waves. It’s not a request but a demand. 

“He’s with her, at all times.”

“He’s jumped ship?”

“No. I don’t think it’s that easy.” New Media said and waited for the realization to wash over Colombia. It’s less of a waterfall of knowledge and more of a cold-bucket of water hitting her at once. “I just figured you deserved to know, us Goddesses have to stick together.”

“I know you didn’t tell me this purchase free. Don’t think your kindness will go unpaid.” Colombia said and stood up digging into her purse, she immediately began texting and making plans while New Media sat back. “But you’re a fool if you don’t think Spider doesn’t know where you’re at and what you’ve done.”

“Spider?” New Media questioned. 

“Anansi.”

“The old story teller? Really?” New Media said and scoffed and laughed, and only stopped when she realized Colombia wasn’t laughing with her.

“I envied you at one point, but that’s what wisdom has over youth.” Colombia said and leaned over and pinched her cheek with fondness. “Anansi is pure chaos.”

“Chaos?” New Media questioned. 

“Even here, in your funky little bunker with your old man pushing pieces across the table, pretending to be busy, there are spiders here. They talk but you don’t hear them.” Colombia said and patted the side of her face. “And you just put his Queen on my radar, and I don’t mean any offense hun’, but I’d find a new hole to hide in. Old Gods don’t forgive that easy.” 

“You’re scared of him?”

“Not scared, just wary.” Colombia said and dug into her purse for a mirror and some lipstick, she touched up her makeup before sliding it back in her purse and heading towards the door.

“Where are you going?”New Media asked.

“To prepare for war, I suggest you do the same.” Colombia said and headed out the door. New Media sat in front of the screen for a moment before standing up, she was going to back to her world, the world she preferred, Earth stinks. It’s cleaner when she’s deep between wires, easier to move in a world that stagnates if she desires it to.

But then the phone rang and she answered. 

“I don’t think we’ve been formally introduced,” Anansi said on the other side, his voice is deeper, more powerful than she imagined. “I’m the storyteller.”


	21. An unexpected visitor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anansi greets a guest, finds a battlefield and another soldier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Despite all the nonsense happening over at American Gods I am going to see this fic through until its finish.

There's a sharp, quick couple of knocks at the door and the fact that anyone is able to find them at all is troubling. Anansi keeps shifting their positions as the war gains momentum. Right now they are trapped between two pockets of time while he attempted to rest. His eyes flickered open, he dropped down from the ceiling and walked over to the door then opened it slowly. If he had a heart it would stop beating so fast as he looked upon the cool and frazzled face of Ruby Goodchild. She is standing on their chilly doorstep when she shouldn’t be able to find them at all.

 

“Now ain’t you a sight for sore eyes. Not everyday a beautiful woman shows up on my doorstep,” He said and stepped back, “Come on in before you catch your death.”

 

“Thank you, Mr. Nancy.”

 

"I don't believe I've had the pleasure." He said. “Have we met?”

 

“No, I don’t think so, not officially anyway.” She said while stepping inside. “I’ve just been having these dreams and then I came to look for Bilquis and…”

 

“Oh, is that so?.” He said and looked out into the coldness of night. Perhaps there was more to Ms. Goodchild than he previously thought, he closed the door and followed her inside. “How did you get here?”

 

“I just started walking.” She said and stood awkwardly in the center of the room. “I just...there’s nothing left for me in Cairo.” 

 

“And what do you expect to find here?”

 

“Clarity.” She said, he offered her a seat near the fire and sat down beside her. She stared down into the fire, so engrossed in herself and her journey she didn’t see him summon a cup from across the room. 

 

“Names have power.”

 

“What type of power?”

 

“Depends on why you’ve been dreaming about me?” He said and offered her a drink of warmed ambrosia, she took it without question and began to sip. 

 

“There’s a field, and we’re in hell and there’s so many of us--”

 

“You’re there too?”

 

“Yes, and I have wings.” Ruby said and smiled softly. “You know, they said Ida could fly.”

 

“Ida?”

 

“My mother. Yes. Said she hated to be tied down, it’s why she left my brother and I behind. Guess it’s just me, now.” She said and drank more of the ambrosia. Ida. Yes. He remembered a little bird named Ida, and a man obsessed with her once he found out she was given a gift from the Gods. Luckily the bastard didn’t know about the kids, but there was still hope for Ruby even though Ida was still on the run. “And I hear Bilquis, and she calls for Mr. Nancy. I think that’s you, right?”

 

“Yes, that’s me.” He said. 

 

“And you know Bilquis?”

 

“Yes, kinda, no one really knows her, and she prefers it that way.” He said and held his hands out to the fire.

 

“Why did she leave me behind?” Ruby asked, she looks up at him with unshed tears in her eyes. 

 

“You’re really sweet on her, but I get it.” Anansi sad. “She has something she has to do and she’s going to need your help, can you do that, little bird?”

 

“Little bird?” She said. 

 

“Look behind you.” He said and she turned her head and saw two long black wings stretching out from her exposed spine.. “And that woman was not your grandmother, she was a kind soul though. But that’s what we do, what we’ve always done, take in those who need us the most and you’re no different.”

 

“I feel...this can’t…” She started and looked at her back and then back to the fire before her eyes started to shift back and forth. “I am not a bird.”

 

“No, you’re not.” He said. He was used to this part, their human minds are still incapable of conceiving the impossible. She faints and he catches her before her head hits the hardwood floor. He lifted her up and carried her back towards a bedroom and placed her down on the bed, Ibis stood in the doorway watching him carefully.

 

“The last living goodchild has found us.” Ibis said.

 

“She’s off limits, birdbeak.” Anansi said.

 

“Because your Queen said so?” He said.

 

“Because I said so, if you touch her then you answer to me.” Anansi said and walked back towards him. “And we don’t want things to get ugly, now do we?”

 

“Anansi, I am not your enemy.” Ibis said.

 

“But you have grown greedy ambitions, and can’t resist to watch one soul go uncontested.” Anansi said and leaned forward to whisper, “What would the others think if they knew you were killing Gods?”

 

“I’ve done nothing wrong, besides won’t you do the same?” Ibis said.

 

“Willie is in your territory.” Anansi said and walked past him, “Deal with that and keep your hands off the Goodchild. Bilquis won’t be happy with you and if she’s not happy then nobody’s happy.”

 

“What use is the girl?” Ibis asked. 

 

“C’mon, you deal in stories too, put the picture together.” Anansi said, Jacquel stepped out of his form and stood before him. “Do we have a problem, mutt, or do I need to put a doghouse out back.”

 

“Oh, never change, little bug.” Jacquel said. 

 

“Arachnid.” Anansi corrected and stepped around him, then he crawled back up the wall and settled comfortably in a corner. A field. Hell. Bilquis. Seems things were still going as planned and that was all that he could ask for. He slept for a moment until he felt Briana grace his home and his eyes flickered open. “Briana.”

 

“Holy shit, Anansi, don’t fucking do that!” She said and nearly jumped out of her skin, all her feathers from her wings were standing up. “What is it?”

 

“I need your help.”

 

“You always need my help.” She said, he dropped down to the floor in front of her.

 

“I need you to find one of your people.”

 

“Who?”

 

“Ida.”

 

“I remember Ida.” She said, she took a seat beside the fire and he followed her. “Fell in love with a human, but he became obsessed once he realized she was a God. I run into her every now and again but she’s a bit of a recluse, why her?”

 

“I just need her.”

 

“This better be worth it.” Briana said, it is always amazing to watch her work. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and began to glow, her lips began to move but no words passed through, only a deep humming he could never quite place. It’s not his place to touch her so he enjoys the moment when she comes back from wherever she’s been he knows he’s not talking to Briana anymore. 

 

“Ida?” He questioned.

 

“What is it, Anansi? I’m not too keen on talking to you, Bri told me how you treated her all those years ago.”

 

“I’m a changed man, baby.”

 

“Men change, Gods don’t. What is it?”

 

“Your daughter is here--”

 

“You slippery motherfucker, if you hurt Jamal or--”

 

“Jamal is dead.”

 

“What?” She questioned. Anansi expected it to hurt a little less when he told her, not to feel the sting of disappointment but that's the cost of collecting stories and being invested in the outcome.

 

“You heard me.This could quite possibly be the end of the Goodchild legacy.” Anansi said, “And your girl may be in over her head. She fancies herself in love with my Queen.”

 

“Afraid you might have some competition?”

 

“Oh, she’s half human.” Anansi said, “Even if that were the case all I’d have to do is wait for her to die. Speaking one parent to another we only want the best for our little Demigods, right?”

 

“I don’t expect you to understand why I can’t be there.”

 

“Chained your ass to the bottom of hell finally?”   
  


“No,” She said, “But suffice it to say there are Gods about who are aware of what you’re up to and will follow me to get to you.”

 

“Bring them.”

 

“Where?”

 

“When Briana sends the signal just come, otherwise, I would fear for your child’s safety.”

 

“Fine, I never could tell when you were being serious or just having one over on us.” She said, and Briana comes back slowly and blinks back into focus.

 

“So? What did she say?” Briana asked.

 

“We got you one last Lieutenant and we have a venue as well.” He said.

 

“This better be worth it, Anansi.”

 

“I could kiss you right now.”

 

“Contain yourself, please.” John said from his spot near the window, he looked out over the darkness of this spot in time. “How many more is it, Anansi?”

 

“How many moreof what?” Briana asked.

 

“One. One final God.” Anansi said and smirked, he stood up and walked towards the wall and started to walk up it. 

 

“And who would that be?” Ibis asked, he entered the room and sat near Briana on the floor, she rested her head on his shoulder. It seems the commune did take a lot of energy out of her, for her to relax against him. Ibis had betrayed their trust but maybe he was coming around, or he was just biding his time to stab them all in the back. If the time came he’d make Ibis and all of Cairo into a proper offering for the rest of them. But for now he’d watch from the corners until he showed which side he stood for. 

 

“Now that is a surprise.” Anansi said, “You won’t believe what I have my sleeve.”

 

“No, I don’t think any of us will.” Jacquel said, “ But why are you pulling the girl into this?”

 

“I have not.” Anansi said, “She came to my door.”

 

“She doesn’t understand the game she plays, this is a different death altogether.” Jacquel said. 

 

“But Shadow does?” Anansi countered.

 

“And what the fuck does that mean?” Jacquel asked. 

 

“You don’t get to pick and choose who dies for what cause.” Anansi said, “You consider Shadow a worthy sacrifice, but the girl doesn’t bring you anything on the surface--”

 

“If you are insinuating--”

 

“I am. I am insinuating that you are greedy and oversaturated, and not true to your nature.” Anansi said.

 

“Come down here and say it to my face, you filthy little cockroach.” Jacquel said and snarled, Anansi dropped down from the wall and stood in front of him, searching his face for an answer. When Jacquel leapt towards Anansi finally Samedi stepped through a portal. 

 

“Little dog, how often must we have this conversation?” Samedi asked, he held his staff out in front of Anansi as Jacquel was propelled backwards. Bast leapt from her cat form and rushed to her brother’s aid, hissing at Samedi.“Anansi is under our protection, and this is not the place for fighting.”

 

“Perhaps not.” Jacquel said and scowled. 

 

“Be still, brother.” Ibis said. “We will shepherd them all.” 

 

“That we will.” Jacquel said and stood up and dusted himself off. “What is your plan after all of this is over?”

 

“Do I have to have one?” Anansi asked, he enjoyed being coy with them. “Can’t we just all agree to do our best to live well in an America that is not trying to destroy our followers and us by proxy?”

 

“But you do have a plan, right?” Bast asked.

 

“Don’t we all?” He asked, the dull murmur in the room is more than enough. They will finally be able to relax, to not have to look over their shoulder wondering if they’re going to be the next one with a target painted on their backs. That’s why they’re all huddled around the fire tonight, why they fight, kill and sacrifice in the name of their Queen and for their worshipers. The silence is more than enough confirmation, thoughts of home sit at the back of his mind and of his Queen. When this was all over he’d have to go and face his demons, accept his penance 

 

But until then he'd rest, the last God on his list was going to be quite a doozy.


	22. The Eye of the Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bilquis and Anansi talk about Ruby and her future. Bilquis and Ruby talk about war.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew! It's been forever since I updated, hope you enjoy if you're still reading.

Bilquis had her assumptions about all of them, the Goodchild’s seemed to have been blessed by the Gods and lived secretly as one of the Winged Ones. It was also quite possible her flighty mother hadn’t told them anything, believing ignorance was bliss and protection. There was no way for her children to accidentally expose themselves if they didn’t know, but it seemed now it was just Ruby, she was left to carry this gift and burden all alone. Bilquis sat beside her on the bed, lovingly stroking one of her wings, she could mold this young woman into something spectacular and frightening,and show her things, or she could break her and leave her a muddled mass of pain and bitterness.

Decisions, decisions. 

“She came here for you.” Anansi said from the shadowy corner of the room, a cigarette hanging from between his lips.

“And you had nothing to do with this?”

“Why does everyone think I’m some secret mastermind when we know that’s more of your thing?”

“I just like to have a good time, shifter.” She said,”But she  is not human, but not quite a God. I could mold her into something formidable.”

“You could also give her a choice in the matter." Anansi suggested.

“Halflings never know what they want.” Bilquis hissed.

“Well you would know, you had how many of those bad ass little kids running around?” He said, he knows how to get under her skin unlike anyone else here. 

“And she came here for me?” Bilquis asked, she ignored his dig at her ancestral line...for now. 

“To fight for you, with you.” Anansi said. “It’s damn poetic when you think about it.”

“And how do you know she came to do that.”

“She stood outside the door telling me about this dream she had.” Anansi said, he stepped from the shadows and came to stand before her. “She was in Hell with you, she’ll die on that battlefield because you know she’s not just going to go back to her life quietly.”

“And how do we stop that?” She asked, she was more insistent. 

“Color me surprised you’re caring about anything but--”

“Anansi now is not the time to crack wise. Tell me how fix this or leave.” She demanded, he took a long drag on the cigarette sucking down the smoke before releasing it through his nose. 

“I’ve already taken care of that for you,  _ My Queen _ .” He said.

“How so?” She said, once again, he had taken her by surprise. 

“I told you we would need two guides on Shadow’s journey.”

“And somehow you still don’t consider yourself a mastermind.” Bilquis said after a pregnant pause. 

“I’m a simple God, just want to drink my fill and see beautiful people.” He said, “Everyone else makes shit more complicated than it has to be.” 

“Anansi, come closer.” She said, he took a few steps and knelt in front of her, as not to wake Ruby. Bilquis took the cigarette from his mouth and flicked it, it disappeared somewhere within a pocket of the universe. She pressed a kiss to his lips before taking his hat from his hand and placing it on his head. 

“Do you feel ready?” He asked.

“Better than I have in years.”

“But that’s not quite ready, is it?” He asked, she cradled his face in her hands and looked deep in his eyes. She flipped through his mind, content with what she saw and he allowed her. He had remained transparent through this entire process, why stop now?

“Bring me World, please.” Bilquis said, “And we will be ready to go to Hell.”

“Of course.” Anansi said and leaned forward and kissed her one final time. He opened his eyes and could sense that Ruby was awake, he stepped back away from Bilquis in one fluid motion and into the shadows. “Well, it’s time to kill a very old God, what do you say since I’m about to break a seventy year old friendship?”

“You were never his friend.”

“Oh, you know me so well. Truly a woman after my own heart.” Anansi said and headed out the door, Bilquis looked back to where Ruby was laying with her eyes open, her wings twitched every now and again. 

“Am I dead?” Ruby asked, speaking halfway into the mattress.

“No, you’re still very much alive.” Bilquis said and ran her hands down Ruby’s spine tracing the groove and curves, seems her shirt had ripped but she hadn’t paid attention to that. The will that these humans had was always amazing to her, “Do you desire death? I can make it quick and painless.”

“No, it’s just… I had to find you. Cairo is...different now.”

“What do you mean?”

“People always talked about Willie Jones, about what happened to him, they said the town was haunted but I see them more often than ever before.”

“Who?” Bilquis asked.

“People who have died...people who I saw die and attended funerals. The pastor is gone and there’s nothing left there, the entire town seems to be dissolving into chaos.” Ruby said and used all of her strength to sit up beside her. Bilquis helped steady her as her wings fluttered. “And I heard something,a little voice, and started walking and I just...ended up here.”

“Do you know where here is?”

“No.”

“Do you want to?”

“No, not right now.” Ruby said, “I don’t think it will matter in the end, right?”

“You heard us talking?”

“I’m going to die but I’m okay with that, it’s just how things are.” Ruby said

“They shouldn’t have to be that way, you shouldn’t be here, little bird.” Bilquis said, the nickname has some affection attached to it. “You should be somewhere safe.”

“I don’t think such a place exists for women like us.” Ruby said and leaned in, Bilquis expected her to kiss her but was surprised when Ruby rested her head politely on her shoulder. “If it did, you would’ve found it, right?”

“I am trying to create such a place.” Bilquis said, she stroked the top of her hair lovingly. It had escaped her bun during her nap, Bilquis wove her fingers carefully through her thick tresses and stroked her scalp. She flips through her mind, seeing the destruction that has taken over Cairo. When this is all over she will have to talk to Anansi about the Gods of Egypt and just what they have been up to. “Even if for a moment.”

“And I will see it?”

“Yes.” Bilquis said, Ruby reached up and carefully removed Bilquis’ hand from her head and pulled her with her onto the bed. She allows Ruby to guide her, they lay down and look at one another in the eyes, Bilquis placed her hand on Ruby’s hip and studied her carefully. 

“You’re a God.”

“Yes, I am.” Bilquis said.

“A real one?”

“As opposed to what other type?” Bilquis said and smirked. 

“The others here do not act like Gods.”

“The others here are not me, and what do you think Gods are?” Bilquis asked, Ruby was contemplative for a moment before speaking. 

“I thought you would be bigger, and have super powers and smite anyone who got in your way.”

“Sure there was a time where we might’ve but that is for fledglings.” Bilquis said.

“And so what is this war?”

“Should you live as long as I have,” Bilquis said. “You will have seen many wars for many foolish reasons, but this war is more of a reminder.”

“What type of reminder?”

“A reminder that we deserve more respect than those running a long con.” Bilquis said and moved her hand up over Ruby’s hip, up over her hand, sliding up her bicep and over her shoulder as if she had done this a thousand times before. “And we’re willing to die for those that we love.”

“Me included?” Ruby asked, Bilquis cupped her chin  and slid closer.

“Especially you.” Bilquis said and kissed her, Ruby leaned into it, opening her mouth as Bilquis pressed her tongue inside. 

“And what about Anansi?” Ruby asked, she pulled back and Bilquis remembered that the girl still had to breath. Pity. 

“Would you like him to join us?”

“Yes...no… I mean, what is he? Really?” She asked, it's all so new to her but she's taking it better than Bilquis expected. Perhaps there is going to be some hope for the last Goodchild. 

“A very, very wise old man.” Bilquis said, she pulled away and sat up. “I think it’s time for you to meet everyone properly now, especially Briana.”

“Who’s Briana?”

“The woman who knows Ida.”


	23. A meeting to die for

The diner is typically silent this time of night, Anansi has always known this and preferred the silence. It gives him time to dream up larger than life stories, to listen quietly to what the wisdom in the wind is telling him. This story may be drawing to a close but another one would be unfolding right on it’s heels, Odin sat at the back of the diner a fishing hat covering his face. Mama-Ji chatted politely with someone across the counter while Anansi strutted past her.

“Mr. Nancy, come here.” Mama-Ji said and waved him over.

“What’s the word?” He questioned.

“There is a dead girl lugging a body around, looking for Shadow, can you please get her to quit drawing attention to herself?” Mama-Ji said.

“I can do many things, but it is not me that the zombie is looking for.” Anansi said, “Let me talk to old one eye  and then I’ll see what I can do.”

“Please do, she’s scaring away my customers.” Mama-Ji said and Anansi made his way back over towards Odin. 

“What’s the word out there, Nancy?” Odin asked as he snatched the hat off his face.

“You’re in the win, that tech infant is screwed and Shadow Moon is staying put for once.”

“My boy all well?” Odin asked. 

“For the moment.” Nancy said and took a seat. “What happens after this?”

“After what?” Odin asked.

“After you get your war.”

“We try to get back to business as usual.” Odin said.

“And what is business as usual for you. You remember how we met?” Anansi said.

“Oh yeah, how could I forget? Some tough black bastard beating white men up until their face looked like it was made of tar.” Odin said, “That summer was Redder than some believed. 1919.” 

“And you remembered what you told me?” Anansi asked.

“I told you that you could come and work for me.”

“Yeah, and I told you I don’t work for you and you laughed.” Anansi said. “But then I met Donar and I thought I could hang around, get rid of a few of the folks heckling my people and still see what this show was all about.” 

“Then Colombia ran and off and Donny left.”

“Donny died.” Anansi corrected.

“Seems he did.” Odin said and swallowed. “No coming back from that, that’s what you told me right? I asked and you said no.”

“I did.” Anansi said and lit a cigarette, “Motherfucker, I thought you would’ve learned your lesson with him.”

“What?”

“Leading one son to sacrifice.”

“Donar killed himself, I did not sacrifice him--”

“Oh, you all but sold his woman to the first punk that walked in and sold him to Nazis when given the chance.”

“What’s your point, Anansi?” Odin asked. 

“You still have not learned.” Anansi said, his old accent leaking through.

“Shadow has to go up on that tree, that’s not my doing, that’s fate.” Odin said.

“A fate you kicked into motion.” Anansi said.

“You almost sound like you care.”

“You’re right.” Anansi said, “Getting back to the subject of Donnie...I lied.”

“What?” Odin said, every letter being pronounced in such a disturbing way. Anansi snickered and took a long drag on his cigarette. 

“I lied. I can bring back Donnie whenever I want to.” Anansi said, he stood up and headed towards the door. Odin rushed out to catch up with his long strides. Anansi is halfway towards his car when Odin puts a hand on his shoulder and forces him to turn him around.

“You’re going to need to explain yourself. Donnie? We can save him?”  
“We can’t, but I can.” Anansi said, “And I would if it meant you’d do right by him.”

“Like you’re such a good fucking father. Donnie sealed his fate when he said no.” Odin said, Anansi took a step backwards. “What the fuck was that about?”

“I don’t want to get blood on my new suit, World.”

“What?” He said and thunder rumbled in the distance, Odin looked up and then back to see that Anansi was nowhere to be found. He could hear the riotous cry of the thunder birds in the distance and a familiar whistle followed by a deep, intense humming.

“World. I like that for you.” Anansi said, his voice echoed all around him but he couldn’t place his direction.

“Anansi, this isn’t funny.” World said, his face began to twitch and morph as he broke his projection of Odin. “I cannot die, I am an idea.”

“Ideas can be altered.” A deep booming voice said, World looked up to see John Henry spinning his hammer, it whistled and vibrated as he tossed the handle from hand to hand. “Or hidden and forgotten altogether.” 

A flock of winged individuals circled him from above, their beating, flapping wings blotting out his view of the stars and the moon. World looked between them all and then back to what he could still view of the diner, he could see that Anansi was inside talking to Mama-Ji who threw her head back and laughed. World made one step towards the diner and froze, the hammer went crashing through his chest showing much more than just ideas, blood and bone fell to the ground and some slid off his hammer as it snapped back into his hand.

“You fool...don’t know...what you’re...doing.” World said, the Hammer went through one of his leg sending it flying as he dropped to the ground, World looked up at them as Bilquis descended down from the backs of one of the impundulus and stood there. World looked back towards what he could see of the diner, he could still see Anansi inside. As Bilquis approached he could see Anansi walking towards him with her. "Fucking shfiters."

“I know about...Thor… Wednesday will-will-will…” World said, his interface began to short circuit, seemed he was dedicated to the con until the very end.

“Know he’s a little bit busted up but will he be acceptable?” Anansi asked, he ignored World’s melt down. 

“He’s going to be enough.” Bilquis said and nodded her head. It is beautiful to see her like this again, rising slowly into the air, staring down at them and her eyes alight. She is ready, as ready as they’ll ever be and for the moment being...Wednesday is as dead as he’s going to get at the moment and now Shadow has to die too. 

“I commemorate this sacrifice to my Queen.” Anansi said, he waved the impundulus over who took pleasure in pecking him clean while the world moved on as he screamed. It is a slow death, and Anansi takes pleasure in watching as Bilquis grows stronger before him, when it is all over they go to the diner where all the other Gods watch them with a disgusting curiosity. Bilquis is glowing, her skin crackles with untapped energy and this isn’t even her at her most powerful. 

“Were you telling the truth?” Bilquis asked.

“About what?”

“Donar.” She said.

“You know how old we are and the things I’ve done and can do, pulling one God from the past before their demise isn’t impossible.”

“I thought you would’ve learned about playing with time by now.”

“He gave me the hammer.” Anansi said, “Think of it as a loan on an investment.”

“Towards what?” She asked, a waitress stopped and dropped off a plate of food for them. 

“Getting him to Hell.” Anansi said, he lifted the plate up in one hand and pushed up and away from the table with the other. He leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to her cheek. “I’ve got to get the hell out of here now.”

“Why?” She asked.

“There are a few wily children for me to deal with.” Anansi said.

“I thought we could spend some time together.”

“Was Ruby not entertaining enough for you?” He asked.

“Not that. When you return we need to talk about the future.” She said. “And our past too.” 

“We will, I promise. For now, I’ve got to go remind a few folks I’m more than a story teller.”

“Don’t stay out too late.” She said and watched as he sauntered out of the restaurant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't even have any excuses at this point.


End file.
